Well said. I, too, am often one who will choose quality over economy even if it costs a little more, in most situations.
I try to live a life of relative minimalism and so the products I choose to buy must be of sufficient quality and provide me some level of gratifying experience as I use or consume them.
Undoubtedly, to those of us here, coffee and the pursuit of making quality coffee is of high importance and the products we choose to incorporate into its production fall under tremendous scrutiny.
I do have other ceramic mugs in addition to my regular double-walled glass mug, that either came with a set or were given to me, but I rarely use them. They're plain and boring to me and that is what I ran across as I looked around this afternoon - more plain and boring stuff. There were several I found that were either intriguing or interesting, but wasn't my, err, cup of tea, per se.
Then I saw this one and I was instantly in love with it. It is minimalistic, yet highly sophisticated and elegant. It may look plain to some, but it's simple design with the long slight broadening flow from the bottom to the top, where the yellow/golden design caps the lip is amazing. The slim and narrow gold lining at the bottom and on the edges of the handle are subtle and thus elegant and not overbearing and gaudy as some things made with gold can be. The white porcelain inside and out speaks to a certain purity of the design, its creator, and even the person holding it, sipping, in my case soon, purely made fresh, quality coffee.
