Most people I know have a personal, somehow meaningful coffee mug: in a favourite colour, possibly, or with a witty slogan. I am very much in favour of this honourable practice and have a couple of Penguin mugs myself. I also plan to get this Reading is My Superpower one as soon as I manage to transfer some money to an account that actually works for online shopping. (Plus I secretly covet my sister’s Start Trek drinking vessel.)

While this is all well and good, I believe everybody should also own A Pretty Teacup. I mean, of course you shouldn’t own one if you have absolutely no interest in tea or porcelain. I do, but where I used to go wrong for years was that I assumed that one must own a full set of teacups. Again, you can own a full tea service or seven, but it’s still nice to have one or two lovely single specimens for yourself.

As soon as you give up the idea of having at least six identical teacups, finding a nice one becomes much, much easier. All antique shops and markets are full of cups and saucers that have lost their mates. The one on the picture is a 19th century Bavarian porcelain piece from the Sablon antiques market in Brussels, but I could have also bought a really nice hand painted one for 15 euros or a lovely violet-patterned one for 10. I believe the pedigree of the cup is much less important than finding one that matches your aesthetic and practical preferences (I don’t like the really small ones, for example – I can only read two sentences before they are empty again.)

The Pretty Teacup is great when you have some time to enjoy selecting, making and drinking your tea. It works perfectly with a good book. It also elevates a perfectly common teabag and makes drinking that very non-special English Breakfast tea a little bit special. There are other benefits: I find this type of teacup very useful when I have trouble controlling my sweet cravings, as it has a civilizing influence – it seems somehow wrong to eat more than a few pieces of dark chocolate or a couple of macaroons when drinking from such a dainty, well-mannered cup.

This doesn’t mean that you should only use this cup when alone, not at all. Everybody should have their own Pretty Teacup and it’ll automatically become an eclectic, slightly mad tea party.