Jugs

With the website relaunch 2025, we have decided to create a stricter separation for pots, jugs, carafes, pourers, and sauciers by grouping the multitude of different uses into two major categories. In this section you will find the Pots & Jugs from Holst Porzellan, differentiated according to their intended use.

For about 50 years now, opinions have diverged as to the difference between a sauciere and a pourer, and why a milk jug is called a milk jug rather than a milk carafe. We have professionally revised the definitions in 2025 and arrived at much more concrete distinctions than those provided by Wikipedia and current AI programs.

According to the porcelain experts, the difference between a pot and a jug is that a pot has a lid and two openings – meaning it always comes with a spout (or “schnaupe”) – whereas a jug is an open vessel that may be equipped with or without a spout. For completeness, it should be mentioned that a carafe is distinguished from a jug by the absence of a handle. In the gastronomy sector, there are further terms that cannot be clearly assigned to construction-relevant differences, including Seidel, Haferl, Maß, Kännchen, decanter, Schütte, and even the beer mug with a zinc lid.

The pots and jugs from Holst Porzellan are primarily designed according to professional and functional criteria. Pots and jugs hold liquids and change their center of gravity during use; it is important that the liquids do not suddenly gush out when poured, or that one, lacking proper grip, cannot balance the shifting center of gravity. These properties are particularly critical in the hotel industry for juice jugs, coffee pots, milk jugs, and especially buffet jugs.

Pots and jugs must stand stably and must not tip over easily. Spouts and “schnaupen” should be designed to drip as little as possible and not soil their surroundings with residues of coffee, juice, or milk.

Good pots and jugs do not lose their grip even when turned upside down in a dishbasket. Their handles should serve as stabilizers or balance weights. The interior of a pot or jug must be easy to clean and constructed so that it becomes hygienically clean in the dishwasher. Handles and spouts must not have cavities where liquid residues could accumulate.

Pots used for pouring hot liquids should always be made of porcelain and not from inferior, poorly fired ceramics, vitreous china, or stoneware. These ceramic materials develop so-called craquelé cracks (small hairline cracks) after only a short period of use, which, after the accumulation of caffeine and theine, appear as a black map running across the interior of pots, jugs, and in many cases, also in cheap coffee mugs.

Glass jugs, although offering similarly good properties due to their physical consistency as porcelain jugs, have the enormous disadvantage of transparency. After only a short time, milk, coffee cream, and juices show unsightly edges inside the jug body and should therefore be avoided, particularly in commercial use.

Hardly any ordinary porcelain item is more difficult to manufacture and comprises more individual parts assembled into one product than a good coffee or teapot.

There are many more criteria that define a functional pot and a practical jug, but unfortunately the text length for the category description is exhausted here.

We conclude by stating that with Holst Porzellan you receive functional pots and jugs at a good price.