aroma cups

[GG1]

Looking at tea sets online, yixing more specifically, I've noticed sets that have drinking cups and aroma cups.
What exactly are aroma cups? When brewing gong fu style there isn't enough to pour into an aroma cup and drinking cup. Obviously you'd pour some in aroma cup to smell while brewing your drinking batch???

Also, has anyone dealt with enjoyingtea.com? There prices seem good but is the quality?

 

[jwhite]

There are YouTube videos demonstrating their use in a formal tea ceremony but essentially you put the tea first in the aroma cup with the drinking cup on top and invert to put the drinking cup on the bottom. Surface tension and vacuum create a sealed container of the two cups. The drinker than lifts the aroma cup releasing the tea to fill the drinking cup and gets the aroma of the tea from the aroma cup rolling it between their hands and inhaling deeply.

Hardly necessary to enjoy a good cup and not something I'd regularly use for my daily tea but if you want the full experience there you go. Make sure get them as a set, aroma and drinking cups, as there is no guarantee that they'll fit together well or be the right size for one another otherwise.

 

[SiBurning]

For those who haven't seen one, here's an example from the ShaveWiki

I like them especially for oolong. This particular set is (yixing?) clay, which has a taste while drinking, so I suggest you just get a ceramic one, or season these if you must match your cups to your yixing.

It seems to me the point (or at least the effect) is more to preserve & contain the aroma and delay the magical moment, leaving both aroma and taste as a sort of surprise to the imbiber. The upside-down cup adds a bit of mystery and showmanship to the experience.

 

[GG1]

Thanks for the answers. I was completely baffled by it.