Sometimes a mug is much more than a mug. It is a warming embrace, a comfortable feeling, a cherished ritual, a dear friend. Sometimes a mug can be more like a hug, and these are the mugs we want to celebrate today.
We’ve combed through our network to bring you dozens of mug options for use at home, a stimulating walk around the block, or alongside you in the garden patch. It may seem small, but merchandise purchases like mugs go a long way for companies trying to surf their way through these troubled times.
Mugs are love, this much we know. Here are some mugs we love.
If you, like certain members of the Sprudge team, are getting extremely serious about your Work From Home fits, this might be the perfect time to color coordinate with a spiffy new KeepCup. The Melbourne brand (now worldwide) offers a deep range of products, including options like glass, cork, and these adorable little tiny guys designed for espresso (they also make a *great* all-purpose cup for kids). Indeed, you can design your heart out with KeepCup’s customization studio, meaning whatever lewk you’re trying to get off—cream parmesan fashion sweatpants with French vanilla hoodie, maybe—there is a perfect matching KeepCup for you.
These days you’re spending less time on Grindr, and more time with your grinder. Show appreciation with this handsome 12 ounce Hudson tumbler from Baratza, the home coffee grinder experts par excellence. This mug is perfect for taking a nice liquid of your choice on a socially distanced walk around the neighborhood.
Counter Culture Coffee Kinto Travel Tumbler
Counter Culture Coffee’s Kinto Travel Tumbler is the perfect combination of style and durability. The powder-coated finish provides a soothing tactile experience. People love the lid on these Kinto tumblers—and it’s leak-proof which is one less thing we need to worry about.
Dogwood x Sanborn Canoe Adventure Pack
Minneapolis’ own Dogwood Coffee is more or less undefeated in the merch game, but this is above and beyond. In collaboration with Sanborn Canoe of Winona, MN, and Duluth Pack, Dogwood has cooked up a deeply unique “Adventure Pack” set including two camper mugs—one Dogwood, one Sanborn—a bag of delicious coffee, and a miniature “coffee canoe” crafted by Sanborn. It’s all bagged up inside of a gorgeous Duluth Pack waxed canvas tote.
Equator Coffee Classic Diner Mug
There’s nothing quite like a classic diner mug. Remember diners? Remember being able to go them? You can relive the experience from home with your very own wonderful Equator diner mug. It’s made of sturdy ceramic and pairs beautifully with a coffee from the Equator B’Cause Project, “a flavorful blend that supports cause-driven organizations that promote equity and sustainability.”
Florida’s own Amavida Roasting has teamed up with SOMA, the hydration experts, to create a stunning bamboo lidded eco-friendly mobile mug. We love the cream and wood colorway of this vessel!
Intelligentsia’s cup runneth over with incredible mug options. Sugar Glider espresso with a very cute cartoon varmint? Special city mugs celebrating places like Austin, Silver Lake, Chicago and Hollywood? All this and much more can be yours.
The Joe Coffee mug is bluer than blue. It’s so blue it’s Pantone 292. It’s bluer than the 1998 single “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Italian pop group Eiffel 65 and equally blue as Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” (but not more blue; nothing is more blue than Joni Mitchell’s “Blue”). You should wear blue whilst drinking from this mug.
Not to harp on our love of KeepCups, but this Minor Figures x KeepCup glass collaboration is perfect for the alternative milk enthusiast in your orbit. It’s available with lid colors like “Kryptonite green’ and “Candy pink”, which should serve as an introduction to the wider aesthetic of the Minor Figures brand. Use this mug as an excuse to check out their wider web shop, which looks and feels as much like a modern fashion brand as it does a beverage company.
It’s important to get in at least one walk a day during times of social distancing. You’ll need a travel tumbler—why not support a great indie roaster while you’re at it? Camber Coffee’s tumbler showcases the art of Dutch designer Rosa de Weerd, and comfortable transports 12 ounces of your choice of beverage safely and warmly around the block and back.
Olympia Coffee Roasting Company
Perfectly designed by notNeutral, the classic Oly Coffee diner mug is available at a generous 16-ounce sizing. For days when you need a little more coffee with your coffee.
Portland’s own Good Coffee teamed up with local artist Mary Caroll to create a hand-thrown ceramic mug design for everyday cafe use. Since you can’t go sit on the couch at Good Coffee Division tomorrow, you can get the next best thing by picking up one of these mugs for use in your home.
If you’re making a lot of iced coffee at home, and then adding milk—which sounds great right now, actually—you’ll want to use a glass vessel in order to take in the view. Dayglow Coffee of Los Angeles has you covered with their minimalist fashionable glass “can”, adorned with a mint green Dayglow logo.
This here camper mug was designed by Onyx artist Brenton Little and was inspired by a dream. From the Onyx website: “He actually woke up and thought of what we do here at Onyx and how we are trying to honor nature and how onyx is also a gemstone and gemstones are rocks and how rocks are made with process metamorphosis.”
You know NY, NY. You know DTLA. But do you know the latest municipal abbrev. ready to sweep the world? That would be “LANC PENN” — short for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, so come on get with it—and it’s the abbreviation you find adorning these handsome KeepCups from Lancaster’s own Passenger Coffee.
Allow us to let you in on a little secret: if you love cups, mugs, assorted vessels, and the act of pouring warm beverages to and from them, you should start drinking lots of tea. Follow our latest tea guide to hook up some good stuff, then scoop up a nice Hasami porcelain tumbler from Nagasaki by way of Rishi Tea. It’s the perfect everyday drinking jam, and—if you promise not to tell—it’s perfectly fine to use this mug to drink coffee, too.
Stumptown describes their series of classic cafe mugs as “good lookin’ and sturdy” which is honestly all any of us can hope to aspire for. We like their buggy “Moth Mug” as well as the kindly messaged “Have A Nice Day” mug. Pair with a Blend Trio and take it easy.
Black & White Coffee x Frank Greene
Super cool 12-ounce stainless steel tumblers adorned with B&W Coffee’s “Panda” logo, available in colors like “coral” and “mint gelato”. Each tumbler has a ceramic liner so there’s no metallic taste.
A cool, simple diner mug from Spokane’s own Indaba Coffee. What’s not to love?
We’ve seen a few enamel mugs so far on this list, but Verve’s design stands out: “Skyline to Sea” evokes Verve’s urban surf identity, with a playfully colorful splash of red on the handle and a minimalist rip curl design. Both lightweight and “nearly indestructible” this is the perfect multi-tool mug.
Jordan Michelman (@suitcasewine) is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network.
Some (but not all) of the brands in this feature are advertising partners on the Sprudge Media Network. For a complete list of partners please consult the right-hand side of this and every Sprudge feature.
