How to Care for Handmade Pottery Mugs

High-fired stoneware is one of the most durable materials in your kitchen. Fired clay has survived thousands of years in the ground; it will survive your dishwasher. Still, a few habits keep a handmade mug at its best.

Washing

• Glossy glazed mugs: dishwasher safe, top rack preferred so they don't knock together.
• Matte and burnished surfaces: hand wash. Repeated hot detergent cycles can dull them over years.
• Coffee staining on a light interior lifts instantly with baking soda and a damp cloth.

Thermal shock is the one real risk

Ceramic doesn't like sudden, extreme temperature swings. Don't pour boiling water into a mug that just came out of the freezer, and don't take a hot mug straight to cold water. Warming a mug with hot tap water before your pour is not only safe, it keeps your coffee hotter.

Never put a mug on a stovetop or under a broiler.

About crazing

Crazing is the fine web of lines that can appear in a glaze over time as the glaze and clay expand at slightly different rates. On a vitrified stoneware body it is cosmetic, not structural, and many potters cultivate it deliberately. Wash normally and don't soak a crazed piece for long periods.

Storage

Hang mugs or stand them upright rather than stacking them rim-to-rim. Rims are the thinnest part of a thrown mug and the most likely place to chip.