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August 30, 2005
Object Lust #2: A smart coffee mug
I drink a lot of tea at work. Apart from my afternoon cup of coffee, tea is my primary source of caffeine. One day it is English Breakfast. The next day it is Irish Breakfast. The following day is Lady Grey. On all of these days though, I lovingly brew my tea for 3-5 minutes and then proceed to pour it on the second most sensitive part of my body (just in case you were wondering, the most sensitive part of the body is not this or this, but this). Though I'm cautious about this fact before I brew my daily cuppas, the sheer delight of filling my nostrils with the scent of a freshly brewed cup makes me forget everything. With a scalded tongue and a curled up nose, I set down my cup of tea for a while and attend to other tasks. By the next time I remember that I have a cup of tea at my desk, it has gone completely cold and is unfit to drink and enjoy.
I came across a smart coffee mug, which keeps a warm liquid warm, but also has an isolated upper chamber to bring the liquid to a drinkable temperature fast. This lets warm liquids be maintained at high temperatures until just before they are sipped. A stroke of simple and creative genius. Each mug has three settings: Lock, Tip&Cool and Sip. The Lock setting seals the mug and lets liquids be transported easily without scalding or staining spills. The Tip&Cool setting uses the upper temperature controlled chamber to cool the liquid instantly while it is still too hot to drink directly. After the liquid has cooled down enough, you can use the Brugo mug like a traditional mug by using the Sip setting to bypass the upper temperature controlled chamber. This is a bit of a modal user interface, but it's a small price to pay for the considerably reduced risk of tongue scalding.
(Brugo Mug; http://www.brugomug.com; $15.95)
Posted by Vishy at August 30, 2005 08:42 PM