In Your Humble Opinion
Coffee.
Some people love it. Some people hate it.
For some, it's a requirement to start their day. For others, it's simply a treat, something they like but don't need.
I used to be in that second category. Coffee was more about nostalgia for me than anything else. I love the smell, I love the feeling of a warm mug in my hands, and, let's be honest, flavored coffee creamer is just about one of the best things a person could ever wake up to.
But, for my morning routine, coffee was never a necessity. I never wanted to be bound ball and chain to it's caffeinated properties so I always kept a steady rotation of caffeinated, half-caff, and decaf.
Oh how things have changed.
Now that we have two under two in the house, I've found that coffee and, more specifically, the caffeinated properties I tried to have a healthy relationship with, to be more and more attractive. Just having completed week three of having a newborn and an anti-sleep 15 month old in the house, I feel my non-caffeinated will power slowly starting to diminish.
Which brings me to the reason for this post:
Travel Mugs.
The hubs and I have three.
One that's bent on the bottom and doesn't stand up straight.
One that's pretty but does absolutely nothing to actually keep beverages hot.
And one that technically keeps beverages warmer than the pretty one... but not really.
I know I talked about how I use glass jars to carry around most of my drinks here. But glass jars and hot beverages don't really go together (unless you have hands made of potholders... which would be really convenient for our current situation but, otherwise, would probably really stink for every other part of your day so I wouldn't wish that upon anyone).
The hubs and I have wanted to get new, good travel mugs for a while. I'm not even afraid to spend a little more money than I normally would in order to have mugs that work well - and you know I like to keep my money.
Here's the deal though, there are millions of travel mugs out there. And so far we're 0 and 3. We really want mugs number 4 and 5 to be good ones.
There are two things we're really looking for:
In your humble opinion, which mugs should we consider?
Some people love it. Some people hate it.
For some, it's a requirement to start their day. For others, it's simply a treat, something they like but don't need.
I used to be in that second category. Coffee was more about nostalgia for me than anything else. I love the smell, I love the feeling of a warm mug in my hands, and, let's be honest, flavored coffee creamer is just about one of the best things a person could ever wake up to.
But, for my morning routine, coffee was never a necessity. I never wanted to be bound ball and chain to it's caffeinated properties so I always kept a steady rotation of caffeinated, half-caff, and decaf.
Oh how things have changed.
Now that we have two under two in the house, I've found that coffee and, more specifically, the caffeinated properties I tried to have a healthy relationship with, to be more and more attractive. Just having completed week three of having a newborn and an anti-sleep 15 month old in the house, I feel my non-caffeinated will power slowly starting to diminish.
Which brings me to the reason for this post:
Travel Mugs.
The hubs and I have three.
One that's bent on the bottom and doesn't stand up straight.
One that's pretty but does absolutely nothing to actually keep beverages hot.
And one that technically keeps beverages warmer than the pretty one... but not really.
I know I talked about how I use glass jars to carry around most of my drinks here. But glass jars and hot beverages don't really go together (unless you have hands made of potholders... which would be really convenient for our current situation but, otherwise, would probably really stink for every other part of your day so I wouldn't wish that upon anyone).
The hubs and I have wanted to get new, good travel mugs for a while. I'm not even afraid to spend a little more money than I normally would in order to have mugs that work well - and you know I like to keep my money.
Here's the deal though, there are millions of travel mugs out there. And so far we're 0 and 3. We really want mugs number 4 and 5 to be good ones.
There are two things we're really looking for:
- It has to do a good - actually, let's go with great - great job of retaining heat. As you found out in this post, I'm a real slow coffee drinker. The hubs is also outside the majority of the day and doesn't have the convenience of popping his coffee in a microwave whenever he wants to so the mug's gotta do it's job well.
- It has to have an opening wide enough for me to get my entire hand down it when I wash it. I don't care if it can or can't go in the dishwasher - I ain't scurred of washing things by hand - but if I can't get my hand down in there to actually clean it, that kinda grosses me out.
In your humble opinion, which mugs should we consider?
I'm about to nerd out on you. Fair warning, physics will be used. Heat transfers in three ways: conduction (direct contact), convection (by heating a fluid (like air) which moves the heat) and radiation (like the sun). The ideal travel mug compensates for all three.
ReplyDeleteConduction - Find a double-walled bottle with as little contact as possible between the inner, drink portion and the outer walls. This limits the area through which direct contact between the hot beverage area and the outside hand-hold area takes place. For a counter-example, your YLAD bottle has a LOT of points of contact between the inside and outside, which is bad.
Convection - That double walled bottle? It should be vacuum sealed. That way your delicious, hot beverage can't heat up air between the layers which saps heat from your drink. No air = no fluid to heat.
Radiation - That double walled, vacuum sealed bottle? It should be stainless steel on the inside (or at least something reflective). That way all that delicious radiant heat that your drink gives off just gets reflected right back into the sweet, caffeinated nectar.
In conclusion: Look for a double-walled, vacuum-sealed, reflective-on-the-inside bottle. I know Contigo makes a pretty good one, but they're not wide mouthed. Maybe look up a good, old-fashioned Thermos brand bottle.
Either way, armed with good science, you can conquer this problem!
Ondeck,
DeleteConsidering that I never took physics, I found your comment to be extremely enlightening! I can see why the kids at the high school love you as a teacher :)
I had a travel coffee mug from Starbucks that was metal and sturdy and didn't dent. It kept my coffee so hot that it was still warm in the afternoon. It was definitely wide enough for your hand. I would strongly encourage you to take a trip to Starbucks and check them out. I would also strongly encourage you to do that when I am in town in a couple of weeks so that we can hang out. :)
ReplyDeleteAhhhh! I CANNOT WAIT until you come up! For real, best summer ever.
DeleteI second the two others. Starbucks stainless steel, double walled, no handles. Mine rocks and is also good into the afternoon - still warm. Also have had it for 5 or more years and it hasn't ever sprung a leak, like so many of the others, and it still stands upright, even though it gets trecked around!
ReplyDeleteAnnie
Thanks so much, Annie! I really appreciate everyone's advice!
Deletehttp://www.target.com/p/ignite-contigo-westloop-coffee-mug-berry/-/A-13558267
ReplyDeleteThis mug keeps my coffee hot all day. I am totally not lying... AMAZING!!!!
It's so cute, too! Brad and I have been up to our ears in baby-ness but, after hearing everyone's Contigo praises, I definitely want to try it. Thanks so much for the link!
DeleteI agree with the stainless steel coffee shop kind. I had one from Caribou that my mom gave me. It kept the coffee hot from Mpls to Chicago (7 hours). When my kids were little spill proof was important to me too. But the one I had, the lid was hard to clean in between the spin top layers, also I can't find it to tell you what kind it was. The fact that I can't find it, however, tells you that I don't need spill proof anymore as I no longer have to carry babies and toss my coffee in the diaper bag. Lastly, I had two bottle scrubbers, one for baby bottles and one for things like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jamie! Spill proof is a good tip considering Abilene's already tossed coffee all over our couch (thankfully it was cold!) I hope all is going well for you and your family at camp!
Delete