You’re a coffee junkie, and you travel. The leisurely sipping of a cup of Joe while your linger over the morning talk shows is not an option in your lifestyle. But you love your brew, and you want to take it along. The solution, of course, is a travel mug. It will be an excellent sidekick, keeping your coffee hot while you navigate through traffic, and being there to sip from at those intolerably long stoplights.
But there are travel mugs, and there are travel mugs. Depending on the length of your commute, you may want to keep your coffee drinkable for up to an hour. So your best bet is to dispense with any mug made of plastic, and head for the stainless steel variety.
Plastic mugs, besides being fragile, do not have as much insulating power as stainless steel mugs do to keep you coffee hot. And they have the nasty habit, over time, of absorbing traces of your coffee, discoloring themselves and affecting the taste of the fresh coffee you put in them. The absorbed coffee will be impossible to remove, so you’ll have to shell out for another mug.
So, if you just prefer the way you plastic mug looks, find a stainless steel liner for it.
But you’d do yourself a big favor by paying the extra for a double-walled stainless steel mug. It won’t break if you drop it, and you won’t be sipping lukewarm coffee halfway to your destination.
If your car has a cup holder, get a coffee mug which fits it, and you’ll have both hands free for driving or your cell phone. Otherwise, look for a mug with a wide base which will keep its balance.
Look for a mug with both a screw-on lid and an opening that can be closed when you are not drinking, ensuring that, should the mug capsize, there will be no coffee spillage.
And protect the seals in you mug’s lid by not exposing it to sunlight for long periods.
Properly cared for, your travel mug will ease many a journey with comforting coffee.
