Drinking from a well-crafted Tea bowl is one of life’s great pleasures.
Image this page: Tea bowl by Karen Cromwell (2025), Photography: Andrew Sikorski
The formal preparation of Tea in Japan has always been about a transcendent experience. This is why the Tea bowl exerts such influence as a symbolicas well as a practical vessel. People enjoying matcha outside Japan today deserve good bowls. Once you know what to look for, it is surrising easy to see what kinds of bowls might qualify.
You can download and read my illustrated guide to how a Tea people think about the function and aesthetics of Tea bowls (How to look at a Chawan) below: