Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mug

Help me find my favorite coffee mug, again

tomwheeler — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:52:28 -0800

Ten years ago I was given the most perfect coffee mug of all time. I'd like to get some more like it, only I don't know where to find them. Someone with experience in promotional items should be able to nail this. Way back in the dotcom days, I got a coffee mug with the Java (programming language) logo on it from the local Sun Microsystems rep. Although I've done a lot of Java development, it's the mug itself, rather than the logo or origin, that makes me want ten more just like it. The mug holds about 14 ounces, fits my hand perfectly and its lip tapers slightly inward so coffee tends not to drip down the side. Perhaps best of all, it's got a rubber base so it's hard to knock over.

Despite my total lack of photography skills, pictures might help to identify it. The front has the Java logo, while the back has the URL 'http://java.sun.com/', just above smaller type which reads 'brewed by Sun Microsystems'. I've also got a picture of the bottom where the ventilated rubber base is visible. The only other marking is the handle's underside which says 'Made' and 'U.S.A.' with an ironically inaccurate depiction of the American flag between those two words.

Any ideas where I could find more mugs of this style, regardless of what logo they have?

Eco-friendly mugs that can be personalized for each employee

Talulah — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:23:07 -0800

Help! I've wandered through the promotional mug wasteland and I need some assistance. My organization is moving to a LEED certified building in a few months. In efforts to welcome the 60+ employees to the new space, we're putting together a welcome package for each person and the hardest part seems to be locating just the right kind of mugs. In my dream world the mugs would all:
- Be recycled or green (although in just being permanent mugs they are way greener than the current styrofoam cups)
- Be personalized. And this doesn't mean having the company logo on it. They want to get each employees name printed right on the front.

Ideas?

The tea to water volume ratio divided by temperature minus steeping time

brenton — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:19:37 -0800

Tea Brewing question. Help me fill in a few missing details for how to brew the perfect cup of tea. Bonus question: should I trust the instructions printed on the box? So here is what I do know about how to brew tea: Warm the cup. Pour just-boiling water over the teabag. Cover, and let it steep no less than 3 minutes, no more than 5.

Missing Details--How big of a cup? Are we talking tiny teacups? A literal 1-cup measurement? Is this different based on the company? I sometimes suspect that British teabags are designed for British teacups, while 1 American teabag is designed for the standard, larger American coffee mug. Or maybe teabags assume a big mug, while loose leaf instructions assume teacups?

The old "one for each person and one for the pot" logic doesn't help me here... the question is about how much *water*, not how much tea.

Bonus:
So I know you steep Green Tea at a lower temperature, but I assumed you'd steep it for the same amount of time.. yet one package I have advises me to "wait about 30 seconds before you remove the tea bag from your cup." How can this be? Could it be because it's using fine fanning/dust in the teabag? (Which I would think would affect the tea/water ratio, not steeping time.) Furthermore, I have a White Tea box that suggests full boiling water for 3-5 minutes, as if it were black tea. What's going on?

Final question: can white and green tea be re-steeped for different flavors? Does this depend on the quality of tea, or can all white teas be re-steeped?

Frost my mug

c:\awesome — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:13:10 -0800

How can I make my beer mug as frosty as humanly possible? Sometimes you go out to a bar and they serve your beer in a mug so goddamn frosty, you wonder how you can replicate such a thing at home. Well, I have a beer mug -- pint size; it looks sorta like this -- and a freezer, but simply putting the mug in the freezer for a few days doesn't bring the frost level up to what you sometimes get from a bar.

Are there any tricks to making my mug extra frosty, or is the only solution a colder freezer?

Help Me Find This Mug's Sucessor

mccn — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:43:25 -0800

Can someone tell me if MiGo still makes this screwtop travel mug (which doesn't leak and can be put into a backpack) with a rubber gasket top? At Christmas, 2002, my then-fiance bought me some coffee supplies, including a black rubber and plastic mug made by MiGo. (I think from Target.) I was gracious about it, of course, but not too excited - I usually hate travel mugs.

But this one was different. The top lid assembled in two pieces. When you screwed the lid onto the cup, it became leak-proof; the seal was tight, and I could throw a full mug of coffee into my overlarge handbag on my way to work. The mug quickly became my new favorite possession.

Sadly, after many moves and a graduate degree, a piece of plastic on the inside broke, and I haven't been able to use the mug for 5 years. I couldn't bear to throw it out - it was the best thing I'd ever found, and that includes the vacuum flask I grumpily use now. But searches were fruitless. I located one website that discussed MiGo's partnership with a company that made industrial gaskets, and I figured that this extraordinary screwtop came from there. But I haven't seen it on MiGo's product pages since - or at least I don't think I have; the travel mugs there now seem to have ordinary push-on lids (the kind where you can't turn the mug upside down).

Can I find a replacement mug? I looked at the thread on recommendations for new ones, and might just try to go with one of those if I can't find this one. But MeFi is my last hope for trying to track down The Best Coffee Mug Ever made! Can you help?

Help me find an eco-friendly item that I'm not sure exists

monkeygenius — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:01:14 -0800

I'm looking for reusable coffee mug with a lid like the I'm Not a Paper Cup, but made of a different material. This product has the right idea, but it's too thick/heavy. Does anyone know of a another product like this? I drink coffee and tea all day long, but I loathe those insulated travel mugs. Usually I buy a coffee in the morning and reuse the paper cup all day, maybe even for two days, but longer than that and the structural integrity is non-existent. What I'm imagining is something like a to-go coffee cup but made of plastic, where I can use my own reusable sleeve.

Customizing an I-Am-Not-A-Paper-Cup.

pearl228 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:50:28 -0800

I'd like to have a drawing, which I have as a jpeg, printed onto a porcelain I am not a Paper Cup. Does anyone know where I can have this done in NYC? This is to be a gift for a coworker. It would be perrrrrrfect, so I hope it can be done.

Somewhere below 50th in Manhattan and Williamsburg, BK would be ideal, but I can be a little flexible if necessary. The main thing is that it either be open on weekends or in midtown close to my office.

Thanks for your suggestions!

What's the surest way to repair the broken handle of my favorite mug?

Riverine — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:43:12 -0800

What's the surest way to repair the broken handle of my favorite mug? While dishwashing, the handle of my favorite cup broke into three pieces. MeFi, what suggests do you have for glues, gluing techniques, or other things I should keep in mind? Or do you feel that repaired handles will never be trustworthy again?

I am a genius

NormieP — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:36:09 -0800

In the movie "Shaun of the Dead" there's a mug that says "I am a genius." I want one. During the scene where Shaun goes through the various plans to save his mum and Liz he holds up a mug that says "I am a genius." You can see the mug in question starting at 00:21 in this clip.

Google has failed me. Any suggestions on where I might find one?

A mug-bowl. A Mowl. For Soup.

mecran01 — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:20:02 -0800

I need help locating the perfect, giant soup mug for work. I hate carrying a bowl back from the microwave in the break room, through the hallway filled with staring students, and into my tiny, joyless office.

So, I must find the perfect soup container.

1. It must be ceramic or pyrex. Nothing that will leach synthetic estrogens into my body.
2. It must be opaque. The students, they stare.
3. It must fit in a microwave.
4. It must hold an entire can of soup, with some exposed lip when full to prevent sloshing
5. It must have a lid so I don't spill when carrying it back to my tiny, windowless, joyless office. Ideally the lid would also be ceramic or glass.
6. It need not have graphics or clever sayings on it
7. It should cost around 10 bucks. Maybe 15. $20 if it is The One.
8. It should have a handle, so I could also drink beverages from it on occasion, such as a giant hot chocolate or even herbal tea.
9. It cannot give me lead poisoning.
10. If it looks clinical and disturbing, so much the better, but no pee jars.
11. It has to be the kind of thing Kevin Kelly would use and enthusiastically recommend. I'll take Stewart Brand in a pinch.
12. Everything but size and lid are negotiable.

Where in SF can I get a Moscow Mule in a copper mug?

soda pop — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:29:33 -0800

Where can I find a Moscow Mule in San Francisco, complete with obscure copper mug? IF you can answer and you're in the SF area, I'll buy you a Moscow Mule too (more inside). SF Idiosyncratic Lush Filter. I've been trying to find a bar that can serve a Moscow Mule in a copper mug. The few places that have the ginger beer typically don't have the copper mug (see, e.g., Hobson's Choice). Surely, with Bourbon and Branch and Alembic bringing the Aviator, the Old-Fashioned and other "old-school" drinks back, I should be able to find a proper Moscow Mule in SF proper. I'm even willing to go to the East Bay/South Bay (this, sirs, is a cry for help--I once considered SF to Walnut Creek a "long distance relationship.").

my travel mug stinks.

lindsey.nicole — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 13:18:15 -0800

Anyone know how can I make my travel coffee mug not stink of old coffee? I have a fancy, semi-new travel mug made of some almost indestructible hard plastic. It's great, except for the surprisingly strong stink of old coffee and cream, which seems to have permeated it permanently. This is particularly a problem with the soft plastic seal around the lid. I tried soaking it in very hot water and dish detergent. Nothing. I tried soaking it in vinegar (it then smelled like a not-pleasant combination of old coffee and vinegar).

So...any miracle cleaning products out there? Is bleach a good (or safe) idea? I should add that I don't have a dishwasher. I'm also aware that rinsing the mug out diligently after each use would prevent the stink. Realistically, that's not going to happen.

Steel travel mug

theora55 — Mon, 08 May 2006 20:31:32 -0800

My new steel travel mugs make my coffee taste like.. steel. It's not enhancing my morning caffeination rituals. Brushed steel, all metal mugs. I generally like the all steel travel mugs for keeping coffee hot and not imparting off tastes. Have used these several times and they still impart a steel taste to the coffee. yecchhh. These are from Ikea; I got 2 cause they were affordable. Is there any way to make them usable?

WTB: Neil Diamond 'Diamond Girl' mug

hummercash — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:26:09 -0800

ReplaceBrokenMugFilter: I'm in search of a coffee mug... Neil Diamond themed... white mug, pink letters that say 'Diamond Girl'. I've googled for it, ebayed for it, can't find anything. HELP ME REPLACE IT BEFORE THE OWNER FINDS OUT ITS BROKEN!!! TIA.

Why do the coffee mugs in diners have concave sides

nebulawindphone — Tue, 24 May 2005 10:21:45 -0800

Why do the coffee mugs in diners have concave sides? An hourglass shape has a high surface area compared to its volume. So coffee in an hourglass-shaped mug should get cold faster, right? Wouldn't the ideal coffee mug be sphere-shaped, to minimize the surface area and keep the coffee hot?

Leak-proof travel coffee mug recommendations

gramschmidt — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 08:40:02 -0800

TRAVEL COFFEE MUGS: Mine leaks. Which do you use? I want one that's sturdy, benign-to-subtly-attractive in appearance, and will never, ever leak from any of its cracks, crevasses or segment joints in perpetuity throughout the universe. I gravitate toward stainless steel. I care about the quality of my coffee. I have been told that this one, from Crate & Barrel, is good (and, yes, they have a stainless steel version). Please advise.

Can anyone tell me what it says on this coffee mug?

Frasermoo — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 12:51:31 -0800

Can anyone tell me what it says on this coffee mug?