Cozy Stoneware to Make Your Winter Warm and Bright

When the weather gets cold, there’s nothing better than a hot drink or soup to warm you right up. But in the chilly air, meals and beverages go cold quickly without a container robust and insulated enough to help them retain their heat.

Japanese stoneware is just the thing. Made of relatively thick ceramic, stoneware is great for keeping its contents hot for longer without burning your hands. This kind of pottery has been produced in Japan since the fifth century AD, and there’s a reason it’s still in use after over 1,500 years.

Depending on the glaze and finish, many stoneware pieces also retain a nurturing, earthy quality after they’re fired, allowing you to feel the local clay from which they were made. Regional clays and techniques contribute to each item’s individual textures—especially speckles and ridges that naturally appear in the clay itself or in the molding or firing processes—giving you the sense you are touching the very soil of Japan.

So take a look below to see our recommendations for the best stoneware mugs, carafes, and bowls to pair with hot food and drinks. It’s time for a cozy winter—from our artisans’ hands, to yours.

Hot tea is nourishing for both soul and body, said to aid digestion and, in the case of some teas, relieve stress. Lift your spirits even further with the lustrous Dance in the Wind Kutani ware teacup from Kokuzou Kiln. Gentle blue and pink flowers, outlined in deep red, dance in a gentle breeze visualized by swoops of green. Accents of yellow as warm as a ray of afternoon sun add a much needed pop of color to an otherwise dark season. The cup curves gracefully to fill cupped palms, another touch of sensory comfort.

Every fall and winter I take unique joy in burying my face in my dog’s ruff—a lion-like mane even in the summer that grows extra fluffy, warm, and soft as my English setter fills out his winter coat. For fellow dog lovers we now have a brand-new yunomi tea cup from the popular Atelier Yu Sunny Spot series. Take joy in the mug’s charmingly painted shiba-inu companions as the delightfully thick stoneware warms your hands. As you gently inhale the fragrant steam of tea, you will feel just the same comfort and warmth as you would cuddling a beloved dog—only without the dog hair up your nose.

If you prefer something a bit sweeter, our sturdy stoneware mugs are perfect for hot chocolate. They pair well with a beverage whose essence is coming inside after playing in the snow as a child and being served a rare treat off a dutifully simmering pot on the stove.

So recapture that playful warmth and innocence of your childhood, now with a sophisticated flourish, with our Kokuzou Kiln Sakura Kutani Mug. We chose this mug for its softly shaped handle, molded just right for a solid one-handed grip, and the vibrant backgrounds, available in vibrant sky blue, royal purple, brilliant yellow, and gentle pink—all of which will offset the rich, warm brown of a mug of cocoa very nicely.

Another gorgeous option is the Tosen Kiln Camellia Cafe au Lait mug, a Kiyomizu ware beauty whose delicacy and lightness belies its strength. Holding a generous 300 ml (9.5 oz), you won’t have to get up too often from that cozy blanket nest on your couch to get refills. The Japanese camellia, or tsubaki, blooms throughout the winter in much of Japan, adding brightness to chilly days. Nestle this cup in your hands and appreciate that there are always flowers blooming somewhere—even if right now, the only ones you can see are on your mug.

Hot sake: a beverage that will put warmth on your bones from the very first swallow. Sake is a delicate drink whose flavor changes subtly depending on its temperature, so there’s a great deal about it to explore in the cooler months.

Treat your guests to a luxurious sake experience with our new three-piece sake set from Touan Kiln, featuring a gorgeous motif of momiji—red maple leaves—highlighted with gold and set on a glossy white background. The naturalistic rendering of the leaves, branches, and softly graduating colors bring nature inside to you, even if outside all the leaves have fallen.

To enjoy the raw and earthy textures and hues of stoneware with your hot sake, the Sangiri Gourd-shaped Sake Set is an ideal companion.

The coarse, unglazed texture of Bizen Ware feels grounding in your hands. The microscopic pores in the clay work their magic on the sake, softening its flavors and enhancing its aroma, making even a simple pour feel exceptional.

Stew sits warmly in the belly on a chilly day, providing both nutrition and comfort. And Japanese food culture knows how to deliver, with hearty nabe, or stewed dishes. Made in hefty donabe clay pots that are actually crafted to increase the umami latent in the stew’s ingredients, Japanese stews are both hearty and homey.

We recommend the Black Banko Donabe Clay Pot, a large lidded vessel large enough for three to four servings. Because the entire pot is made of stoneware, it can be used directly over open flame, on an electric stove, or directly in the oven. Not only suited to Japanese cooking, donabeare very similar to a classic Dutch oven and can be used just the same.

This pot is a great option for beginners because unlike some other clay pots it doesn’t have to be seasoned before use, plus it’s 15% lighter than conventional products of the same type. Its craftsmanship and material—Banko ware—are excellent at keeping heat in, so dinner will be hot enough to eat long after it’s served.

When it comes to bowls from which to eat those warming nabe, soups, or stews, we recommend the Blue Aohagi Serving Bowl, ready to handle robust servings and made for entertaining. It is a masterpiece of gray-blues that shift gently between the lucid tones of a morning sky to the deep dusk of evening. This plus the bowl’s natural speckles and subtly earthy texture makes it feel like a gift from nature on your table. Use its depth to hold a rich stew, or rest on its generous lip chunks of homemade bread, fresh out of the oven and ready to dip into whatever soup you please.

Similar in earthiness but possessing a rougher, more rustic vibe and smaller size is the Hibino Foodie Mino Ware Bowl, an easy go-to for family dinners and quick meals alike. The swirls of glaze add visual interest while the interior colors— red, yellow, or deepest navy—add brightness and cheer to the season’s long, dark days.

Another great choice for color-lovers is the MERU Flamenco Modern Mino Ware Bowl. With a 12cm (4.8 in) diameter, it’s perfect for slightly smaller servings—perfect to hold a soup accompanying a main dish. The stunning yellow color is gorgeous against the red of tomato or minestrone soup, and adds cheer to an earthy-toned soup like chicken noodle or French onion. The natural brown specks and brown-glazed rim bring a bit of grounding earthiness and the outside of the bowl has a more pronounced ringed texture than the inside, adding a nice touch of detail. As you cradle the bowl in your palms, you can imagine where a potter’s hands formed the shape with grace and care.

When I feel chilly in Japan but am too tired to cook, I take myself out to one of several neighborhood ramen shops. The other day I ordered a small at a local standby I’d not yet tried, and my eyes went wide when a few minutes later a mixing bowl-sized portion of steaming noodles piled with a veritable Mount Fuji’s worth of bean sprouts was placed in front of me. (It was delicious.) The man sitting down the counter from me was eating from literally the largest ramen bowl I’d ever seen, and that is not a comparison I take lightly in Japan.

Which just goes to show: for large servings of steaming hot, brothy noodles—whether ramen, udon, or soba—nothing is better than Japanese ramen bowls. When you want an entire meal inside a bowl, here are two of our recommendations.

The Musashi Kiln Brown Water Plant Mino Ware Ramen Bowl, which with its abstract pattern of water plants and green and brown tones is a celebration of nature. The bowl serves a generous portion of noodles but is almost shockingly light for its size, making it easy to pick up, sip from, and wash when you’re done.

Finally, last in this series but certainly not least, is the Akae Arabesque Pattern Serving Bowl, a beautiful stoneware piece with a hand-painted design of curving red and green vines on a cream background. Sized for both serving and for generous noodle portions, this bowl will keep you and your meal warm throughout the cooler months

So discover all the joys and comforts that stoneware tableware has to offer this fall and winter season. Pick your favorite, get cozy, and stay warm!