RHYS BOWEN: Do you have a morning tea or coffee ritual? We do at our house. Tea is made in the ceramic teapot with boiling water and tea leaves mixed by the lord of the manor himself: Darjeeling, Ceylon, short leaved Indian and Keemun Chinese. It is steeped for six minutes. We take it with milk and a little sugar.
This is our regular choice of teapots. We do have the silver one, the antique Georgian one and the Wedgwood wrapped up and stored for special occasions.
But recently a second ritual has joined the first: the choice of mug. My children and friends have given me so many mugs that I adore that it’s hard to choose the correct one for a particular day. The latest is the Jane Austen mug. It has quotes from her books and the box it came in said: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man, in possession of a fortune, must be in want of a mug. How can you not love that!
I’ll use this mug when I’m feeling content with the world and easily amused.
When I’m feeling in a more feisty mood I’ll switch to another Jane Austen quote:
Obviously that daughter knows me well.
And this one is equally feisty!
And who could resist this one from my ultra feminist daughter?
I have lovely mugs that I don’t often use: 
the elephant is too heavy,
the unicorn puts me in danger of poking an eye out and my favorite is the little hedgehog cup my daughter Jane brought back from Germany. It’s too small and I don’t want to risk breaking it.
I do have a Wedgwood tea set that I use for special occasions but the cups are so small. Did people drink less tea in those days or did they have to keep refilling the cups?
How about you? Does it matter which mug you drink your tea or coffee in? Or are you elegant enough to use a bone china tea set?
LUCY BURDETTE: I’m caffeine-limited, so I can afford only one good cup of coffee in the morning. I want it to count! I don’t grind the beans, but I choose high quality, hopefully organic coffee and make it by pouring the hot water through a filter. We became so spoiled after having a cafe con leche every morning in Key West, so we must have hot frothed milk when we aren’t there. Milk frothers are notorious for breaking down so I have a brand new one.
PS I have beautiful Emile Henry mugs in green, red, blue, and yellow. At the moment, I will only drink from the yellow ones:).
JENN McKINLAY: I am a bean grinder. I buy them whole from a local fair trade shop. Like Lucy, I am caffeine limited to two cups and I’ve been a milk frother since my trip to Italy in 2008 because it just feels like more of a treat (although now I use oat milk). I do have a cup of tea sometime between 3 and 4 in the afternoon to power through the last of the day, but it’s not fancy. I order PG Tips in the pyramid shaped tea bag and drink it with a dollop of honey. I have no preference in my mugs so long as they accommodate my beverage.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Morning tea ritual here, too, Rhys. I also, like the lord of the manor, mix loose leaf teas. The morning blend is a tea called Lover’s Leap, a Ceylon variety, with a malty Assam (commonly used in teas like English Breakfast.) I use tea sacs and steep the tea in my biggest Liberty mug (photo) then top with frothed milk. (And of course I have a milk frother!) But when the tea needs to be rewarmed, I have to pour it into a microwavable mug. My current fave is a William Morris pattern, bought for 4 pounds at the hardware store at Notting Hill Gate. Irreplaceable.
When I occasionally switch to coffee, it’s one shot of espresso in the same big mug, frothed milk, then mug topped up with hot water.
HALLIE EPHRON: I rotate through chai tea, coffee, and cocoa. All sweet, heavy on the milk. And as it will come as no surprise, my favorite mugs feature birds (Hoopoes, Grebes…) and Minions.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Tea drinker here, though without the ritual of a home-blended mix: like Jenn, I’m a PG Tips fan. No milk, way too much sugar (you know those infographics that show Americans consume 34 teaspoons a day? That’s me.) I drink it all day, adding boiling water and making a fresh pot as necessary.
Mugs are chosen for size, not design. They need to be large enough to hold a generous 12 oz. of tea, but not so large that the tea cools off before I get to the bottom. I like mine at roughly the same temperature as magma, so heat-retention is important to me.
RHYS: So how about you, dear Reddies? Favorite mugs? Morning ritual?
