Handmade Japanese Tea Mug Set

Loose leaf tea at a desk usually means a metal ball, a saucer for the drips and a compromise on flavour. This set replaces all of it with three matched ceramic pieces: a generous mug, a deep strainer that drops inside the rim, and a lid that keeps the heat in while the leaves steep and then sits under the strainer as a rest.

Each set is thrown by hand and finished in a reactive glaze that breaks over the rim and the throwing rings, so the tone shifts across the piece and no two are identical. Five colourways are offered — yellow-grey, green, navy blue, black and orange. The strainer is ceramic rather than mesh, pierced with holes wide enough not to clog with fine leaf, and it lifts out cleanly once the tea has brewed so the tea stops rather than stewing.

The mug is unglazed on the foot ring in the traditional way and glazed everywhere else. Hand wash in warm water without harsh detergent, dry before stacking, and expect minor variations in size, glaze pooling and colour — they are the point of a handmade piece. Buying two in different glazes gives a pair that clearly belong together without matching, which suits a set intended for daily use rather than for a cabinet.

• Three pieces: mug, ceramic strainer, lid
• Five reactive glazes: yellow-grey, green, navy, black, orange
• Hand thrown; each piece unique
• Wide-pierced ceramic strainer for loose leaf
• Lid doubles as a strainer rest
• Hand wash; not dishwasher safe