When it comes to travel coffee mugs, I have many, arguably too many, and I probably don’t really need anymore but that’s never really stopped me before. To express my mug addiction mathematically, it would be (n + 1), where n represents the number of travel mugs I currently own. It’s just that pesky 1 that keeps filling up my cupboards. The 1, in this case, is a 2, with a brand-new collaboration between Miir and World Coffee Research to create two new incredibly stylish travel coffee mugs benefitting WCR.
Spearheaded by Workshop Coffee, the London-based coffee company and Miir’s UK distributor, the project brings together two artists an ocean apart to offer unique takes on how to visually represent the work of WCR. The first is an illustration by London artist Lucy T. Smith, who has previously worked with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as well as commissions for Sir David Attenborough. Inspired by traditional botanical drawings, Smith’s illustrative work on the project offers an elegant look at the C. arabica plant in various stages of growth. Michael Buchino, the Portland-based artist behind the second design, takes a more colorful, whimsical approach. Using a drawing style reminiscent of cartoons from the ‘50s and ‘60s, Buchino’s illustration depicts workers in three different fields of the coffee industry: in the lab, on the farm, and in the cafe.
“The MiiR x WCR collaboration is extraordinary because it lets us hold in our hands a truly beautiful object that reflects the joy, passion, and optimism for the future that underpins the work of coffee researchers. Along with delicious coffee, these mugs hold something else precious—hope for the future of coffee.” — Hanna Neuschwander, WCR Director of Communications and Strategy
The mugs, each coming in a 12oz camp cup with Smith’s also offered as a 12oz tumbler and Buchino’s featured on a 23oz water bottle, made a soft release at Workshop Coffee in Fall of 2021 where they raised nearly $20,000 for World Coffee Research. And on Monday of this week, they saw a broader release worldwide, including retail partners in the US at Black Oak Coffee Roasters, Bridge Coffee Co, Camber, Fulcrum Coffee Roasters, and Intelligentsia; in Germany at Berlin’s Circle Coffee; and in the UK at Workshop and Union Hand Roasted. Proceeds from the sale of any of the Miir x WCR collaboration mugs will go to further the mission of World Coffee Research.
For more information, visit Workshop Coffee’s Miir x WCR collab page.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
