George Washington's Coffee Cup – Society of the Cincinnati, 1784

250 Years. One Cup.

Today, July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250. And in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a small porcelain coffee cup sits quietly — one of 302 pieces that George Washington ordered from China in 1786, used throughout his presidency, and kept at Mount Vernon until his death.

Washington drank coffee. His household accounts document it. He served guests — diplomats, officers, members of the new government — using this service, in New York, in Philadelphia, at Mount Vernon. The service included several coffee cups. He used them. Which one he held on any given morning, history does not record. But the cup now in the Met is one of those cups. The same service. The same glaze. The same painted figure of Fame with her trumpet, the same Cincinnati eagle beneath her.

One of them touched his lips. This may well have been the one.

The TazzArte re-edition reproduces this cup faithfully — same form, same decoration, same weight in the hand. Fine porcelain, ten ounces. Made to be used, not displayed. Pick it up. Feel it. This is what Washington held.

Our gift to America at 250.

Original: Coffee Cup, Chinese, ca. 1784. Porcelain. H. 2½ in. (6.4 cm). Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, 1939. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Acc. No. 39.18.3. Public domain.

Fine Porcelain — 10 oz. Dishwasher and microwave safe.