WE TEST… travel mugs
THINGS WE CONSIDERED: How long does it stay hot? Is it too hot to handle? How do you clean it?
Best for quick trips
Strawberries Rice Husk Travel Cup (435ml), £10, Emma Bridgewater
This mug keeps my tea toasty for up to an hour. It hasn’t been designed to keep drinks hot for a long time, so I’m really impressed by its heat-retaining properties. It has a silicone sleeve to insulate hands from heat and a silicone lid, the warmth of which indicates how hot your drink is. It’s lightweight and easy to carry, but it doesn’t have a waterproof closure, so be careful of spillages. If you want to chuck it into your bag after use, you need to make sure it is empty and dry first. This cup isn’t dishwasher safe, but it’s easy to clean by hand. It’s made from rice husk, so it’s ecofriendly. It will also biodegrade in 90 days if broken into pieces and
placed on a compost heap.
Best for car journeys
The Bee Tumbler in Black (400ml), £30, Ohelo
What I wanted was a travel mug to shove in my bag and trust it not to leak everywhere! With the Ohelo tumbler being 100%
leakproof, my problem was solved! The lid is designed so you
can sip from any side, which I found useful in the car, as I didn’t have to see where to drink from. It has a removable strainer, which is great for leaf tea, however I found it better to take it out for coffee as it slowed the pour. It is excellent at keeping your drink hot – for 6 hours! It was easy to hold and fitted into my car cup holder. Both the cup and lid are dishwasher safe. The cup is stainless steel with an etched design, so no fading or chipping, keeping it looking good as new.
Best for reliability
Traveller Light in Gloaming Blue (340ml), £19.95, KeepCup
This compact cup is lightweight and ideal size for slotting under a coffee machine. If you’re taking a tea, the silicone band gets pretty hot when the cup is filled with boiling water, but it was never too hot to pick up. It kept my drinks hot for over an hour, which was impressive. I also love the leakproof lid – even when I ran for the bus my coffee stayed put! The cup base is dishwasher safe and instructions for taking the lid apart are included so you can give it a deep clean. I took points off for no obvious eco credentials other than it is reusable; how hot the silicone band gets; and taking the lid apart is a bit of a faff – but then I guess that is why it’s
genuinely leakproof!
Best for eco credentials
Tumbler in Black with Teal slider (350ml), £27, Ocean Bottle
This has become my go-to commute mug. It’s compact, stylish and comfortable in the hand – its double-walled outer means the mug gets slightly warm. It keeps my tea hot for an hour – but if left unsipped, the drink would stay piping hot for at least 3 hours. It came out of the dishwasher nice and clean, using an eco-cycle as suggested. I love the mug’s eco-credentials – it’s made from 90% recycled stainless
steel and each one purchased funds the collection of 1,000 seabound plastic bottles. I’ve docked one mark as it’s not leakproof: while its removable slider allows you to give the mug a thorough
clean, it also means that, in transit, a few drops can escape.