Buying an Insulated Coffee Mug

!±8± Buying an Insulated Coffee Mug

Buying coffee mugs is one of those things most people do not really put a lot of thought into. If it is something that can hold coffee, it is fine right? That is true unless you love your coffee and you are very particular about your drink and the container that holds it.

If you are an avid coffee drinker, you need to spend a little more care when you are shopping for cups, particularly the insulated ones. When you are in the kitchen aisle at a department store, resist the urge to grab and buy the first mug you see. If you do a lot of your shopping online, do not click on the 'Buy It Now!' button for the mug that comes up first on your eBay search results.

First, what is your main purpose for buying a coffee mug? Do you want to have a mug that you can use every day when you sit down for breakfast and drink your morning coffee in leisure? Do you want a mug that you can take with you to work? If it is the latter, you will want to get yourself an insulated travel mug that will be able to withstand travel. For this, you need to take note of how big the cup holder in your car is. You will want a model that will snugly fit in your car's cup holder. You can find this style with both flared and narrow bases with flared being more appropriate for desktop use and narrow for minimum space usage.

You cannot very well travel safely with hot coffee in an insulated mug unless the mug has a lid on it. You will need to consider a few things when you are looking for insulated coffee mugs with lids. For one, the lid of the coffee mug must be leak proof, not leak resistance. If it says on the package or label that the lid for the coffee mug is leak resistant, it means liquid inside will still spill but at a slower rate if you tip the mug over. On the other hand, if it is leak proof, it means you can tip the mug upside down or it can roll on its side and there will not be any spills.

How the lid attaches to the mug is important too. You will find lids that you need to push down to snap it into place. Some you have to twist to lock into place. Usually, push-in style lids are leak resistant. If you want to seal in the heat longer in your mug, go with an insulated coffee mug with a twist lock lid.

The brand I recommend first and foremost are Contigo travel mugs. The 16 ounce cup is double-walled stainless steel with a screw-cover lid that sits above the rim of the cup. This matters as lids that sit below the rim of the cup take up space in the liquid compartment. The more lid you have sitting in the beverage area means the less room for your drink. With Contigo travel mugs, you get the maximum room for your drink.

The screw on top features 'auto seal' technology. To drink from the tumbler you hold down the button on the side of the lid, this opens the way for the liquid to come through the mouthpiece. With a true-seal like you get with Contigo products, you can rest assured that your beverage will remain in the cup and not leak out.

Each morning, thousands of people rely on coffee to wake them up and give them the energy to get through the day. Every corner literally has a coffee shop for people to quickly go in and get their daily caffeine boost. However, the cups used to serve coffee in these places are not all that sturdy, and worse, they are not reusable. If you use have an insulated coffee mug with you wherever you go, you can have it re-filled with coffee; you are actually reducing the carbon footprints you leave on the environment. Want to take it further? Skip the coffee shops and simply brew your own coffee as mugs are easy to clean anyway.