Custom ceramics for quality coffee

We read last year that, according to research by George Van Doorn from Federation University in Gippsland, the colour of a coffee cup affects our perception of flavour: coffee from white cups, Van Doorn found, tasted less sweet than coffee from transparent or blue cups.

But what about the feel of the cup in your hand? Hannah Alderton and Jarrod Pageot, from specialty coffee bar Altius in Flinders Lane, are betting there's something in that too, and they've had their cups custom designed and made to order. (Altius, the name, comes from the Olympic motto, citius, altius, fortius. The couple are also serious track and field athletes.)

Jarrod Pageot (long jump) explains: "We intended to buy cups off the shelf, but we couldn't find anything that we loved. The existing cups were either a bit small or a bit big."

Most cappuccino cups hold five ounces, or about 160 millilitres. "We use a double espresso shot for our milk-based coffee, and we wanted cups that hold 180 millilitres," says Pageot. "That ratio of coffee to milk works really well. So we decided to get cups made to size."

They were also after a particular shape. Says Hannah Alderton (high jump), "We wanted the cups to be round at the bottom, and I like a cup with a finer rim. We also wanted a functional handle."

Standard cups have a handle you can grab, says Pageot, but not a handle you can loop your finger through.

They worked with ceramic artist Andrei Davidoff on some prototypes. Davidoff then suggested they go to Chris Plumridge of Claystone Pottery.

"Chris drew a design and we loved it," says Pageot. Plumridge suggested making the cups out of Tasmanian Ice porcelain, which is very fine and very "soft" (a ceramicist's term).

The resulting cups have a white satin glaze and a lovely round shape that gives them an understated, luxe feel. But they weren't cheap: "Around $30 for a cup and saucer, compared with, say, $20 for four standard cups," says Pageot.

Their next cup project is a ceramic reusable takeaway cup. "Some plastic reusable cups are quite porous," says Alderton. "If you leave coffee in them overnight, they end up smelling pretty bad."

and the doors locked, Pageot and Alderton head to the athletics track at the University of Melbourne to train. But not before