Shockingly advanced travel mug will protect you from lukewarm coffee

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The Zojirushi travel mug will keep your coffee hot and contained.
The Zojirushi travel mug will keep your coffee hot and contained.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Travel mug by Zojirushi

There’s unquestionable power in an object that does one thing and does it well. Consider the lowly travel mug — it’s a common commodity among the world’s coffee-swilling commuters, and yet the standard design lets us down repeatedly.

How does it fail us? It doesn’t keep our coffee hot for long. And, worse, it’s got a tendency to drip, spill and even spurt lukewarm java onto our clothes and car interiors. Many of my shirts bear depressing coffee stains, the marks of a road warrior using an inferior travel mug.

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Well, my taste buds — and my wardrobe, such as it is — are now thanking me for trying a Zojirushi travel mug.

This thing is almost comically over-engineered. Thin, insulated 18/8 stainless steel walls keep the mug lightweight and your precious liquid hot (or cold). The mug’s massive hinged top hides an advanced liquid-dispensing system, dubbed the “Sip Area” in the included instructions sheet(!). The BPA-free plastic Sip Area looks almost vulgar, so finely attuned is it to the shape of the human mouth. And that lid, when it clamps into place, can be securely fastened with a lock.

Yes, a lock. I’m almost certain you could pack a cup of coffee in your checked baggage and enjoy a warm pick-me-up at baggage claim. (Assuming you’re not flying San Francisco to Sicily or something, but who brings coffee to Italy? Nobody, that’s who.) Thanks to that lock and a pair of gaskets that keep the mug tightly sealed, the only way it would spill would be if a nosy TSA agent cracked it open for inspection.

The look of the Zojirushi is nothing too spectacular — it’s understated and reasonably elegant as far as these things go, but it’s generally unremarkable aside from the comical safety warning slapped on its side. The flip-up lid cover seems a bit strange at first, but that locking lid and the well-insulated mug itself? Game-changers for java junkies.

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