Do you take your coffee cup seriously? All of us have our preferences, our quirks, our idiosyncrasies. Some like mathematics and science, some like literature and art. Some like meat and potatoes, some like veggies and cheese. Some love people and going places, some enjoy reading a book or working on the job. Some like sitting in a cushy chair shoving a computer mouse around or doing nothing at all.
Whatever your tastes or foibles may be, everyone loves a soothing hot beverage. For some that beverage is not coffee. For most of us, though, our preferred hot beverages can include coffee. So just what goes into the design of the ideal coffee cup?
Anatomy
When we partake of a hot beverage, it is nice to be able to keep it hot as long as possible. On the other hand, our lips and our hands cannot take temperatures as high as the insides of our mouth can, so we don’t want the cup itself to get too hot. That means metal is out. Also, glass is not the best material, as it is not a very good heat insulator. Wood is totally impractical. The preferred choice seems to be a ceramic material, though we won’t rule plastic out.
Weight poses a consideration. Realistically, a thick-walled cup is usually too heavy. So a reasonably thin-walled cup, light in weigh but of sufficient thermal isolation, is desirable.
Stability is another thing. I hate a cup that tips if you breathe hard on it. Who wants to have to clean up a mess? Durability goes along with this. If you drop a cup, it is bad enough to have to clean up the contents without having to clean up shards and having to find a new cup.
Size is a factor. Who wants a bitty cup of coffee, anyway? And size of the grip is another thing to consider. Ever get one of those horrid prissy cups where your finger can’t go through the loop? Only an idiot designs cups that have too small a finger loop! And really, most of us want to be able to get two fingers through the loop – let’s get real here. We rest the bottom of the loop on our third finger, while using our index and middle fingers to curl through the loop and hold the side of the loop. For men, the loop should be thick and strong. Women – I learned long ago not to claim to know what you want – but presumably something artistic and delicate.
A separate base attached to a cup is needless and counter-productive. We’re talking serious drinking here, not a Social Tea. The cup should be an uncomplicated cylindrical bowl with a flat base so it can be set down on any horizontal surface.
Diversity
Lastly, our cup may need to serve two purposes – we may need a cup that is useful indoors and one that can be used outdoors, say in a car cup-holder. This may be the biggest test of all in our choice of cup design. A cup for our car that will fit into a cup-holder and that is unlikely to spill its contents all over our upholstery pretty much has a set shape and size to fit snugly into the holder. That limits our choice considerably unless we have the kind of holder that is very flexible itself. Really, such a cup-holder in an automobile shows intelligence in design, and perhaps we ought to feel obligated to buy the brand of motor vehicle that has such a holder. Rather like having that home designed around the bathroom fixture as we see in television commercials.
To modify the universality of the ideal cup, we have the option of color and the option of slogan. What man would crave a pink cup? What woman demands camouflage on her cup? We won’t discuss the slogan. That is too controversial and too hard to figure. This is your opportunity to show the world who you are (or rather, what kind of nut you may be).
By way of summary, then, the ideal coffee cup is a one-piece, cylindrical, thin-walled, insulating, ceramic or plastic unit that has a handle loop through which two fingers can be passed, and which is both lightweight, unbreakable, and of appropriate size.
If it is to be an indoor-outdoor cup, read my future article on Choosing a Car with a Correct Cup-holder.
