Here in the UK, nothing dominates the airwaves of daily conversation quite like the weather. In the shimmering heat of high summer, discussions swirl around the best ways to keep cool. From late night ice baths to freezing your bedsheets, the temperature regulating methods of the British stray into suitably eccentric territories. One such, seemingly counterintuitive, method that garners some fairly fervent support is that of drinking a hot drink on a hot day. Does this really work? Or, like leaving a spoon in an open bottle of champagne, has it become a culturally ingrained but nonetheless mythical method?

Some evidence does suggest that a hot drink on a hot day encourages sweating which in turn can cool us down provided it’s not overly humid. Meanwhile, many contend that the temperature of your drink makes little difference and that the body will regulate its temperature in much the same way regardless of what you ingest. There’s been rather a lot of scientific investigation into the subject though nothing, of yet, seems to have conclusively settled the debate.

Now, we’ll leave the biologists to argue amongst themselves about sweat glands, body cooling and core temperatures. Given our own field of expertise, what we can tell you with absolute certainty is, whatever the weather, a hot drink tastes superior when drunk from English fine bone china. In fact, when it comes to the core temperature of your loose leaf Darjeeling or Colombian coffee, fine bone china has been proven to conserve heat better than any other alternative material. This gives you a more leisurely, prolonged drinking experience.

Our fine bone china mugs, teacups and coffee cups are no longer made with real bone ash. Instead, our secret recipe contains a high concentration of naturally occurring crystalline minerals. These hold the calcium content needed to give the considerable strength and subtle translucency that characterise fine bone china of the highest quality. That strength allows a much thinner rim meaning that when you sip your tea or coffee you expose more of your taste buds allowing the liquid to bloom into full flavour.

Unlike other alternative materials such as earthenware and porcelain, fine bone china is non-porous. This means that no aromas or flavours are absorbed by the cup itself and also ensures that residue from previous drinks is not conserved in the body of the cup. Therefore, the flavour of your drink will not be tainted or diminished in any way.

So, while we can’t provide a scientific answer to the great Hot Drink, Hot Day debate, we can tell you that if you do favour the method, then our handcrafted fine bone china is guaranteed to make the experience more pleasurable. Recently, as staunch advocates of the hot drink method ourselves, we’ve been breakfasting al fresco while sipping from our sunny Serengeti by Nina Campbell and Kitchen Garden collections.

We’d love to see what you’re sipping on and from this summer too. Let us know in the comments below or over on our Instagram @halcyondays_uk