From Handan with care
Sandry Law asked Liu Shenyang’s workshop for a tasting cup that would disappear from the drinker’s attention — no seam, no distorting curve, just a silent vessel that could hold 50ml without stealing the show. The Handan bench, three generations into borosilicate work, had never made a dedicated tasting cup before; this set came out of a handful of prototype rounds Sandry ran with Liu Shenyang over one of his regular visits.
The family’s recipe balances thermal tolerance with startling transparency. Each cup is gathered, blown, trimmed and annealed — the slow cooling locks out internal stress so the glass can handle near-boiling water without cracking. The 50ml size came after testing with different gongfu setups: four to six people at a table, each cup holding exactly one generous sip, showing the tea’s colour as an uninterrupted column of light.
What separates these cups from typical factory glass is the rim. Sandry insisted on a polished, rolled lip that feels weightless on the tongue and doesn’t trap a single drop. With six in a set, a full session unfolds visually: from the first pale infusion to the deeper amber of later steeps, each pour tells its own story. This is glassware made not just to be looked at, but to make the tea the main event.