Attached To My Old Coffee Mug

This is a guest post by Steve. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee here.

Even though I have been drinking coffee long enough to have bought and paid for a coffee plantation in Brazil, drinking coffee for a lifetime does not qualify one as a coffee connoisseur. But I do know the difference between good coffee and great coffee. And I do know you can turn great coffee into mediocre coffee—or worse— by the cup you drink it from.

The most useless cup came out of the 50s’ and was made from melamine formaldehyde, a man-made plastic. It was marketed under various trade names like Melaware or Melmac. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. I wouldn’t even mix paint in it. Now that I think about it, it makes coffee taste like paint. If melamine cups were the only cup available I’d drink my coffee out of a tin can.

Back in the day the only to-go cup was Styrofoam, and thankfully there are more choices today. The only thing Styrofoam does well is keep coffee hot. That was a great feature if you weren’t going to drink your coffee until next week. Arguably, Styrofoam is supposed to be more environmentally friendly than paper…really? Today’s to-go-cup has evolved and we all have stopped by the local convenience store for a quick cup of java and drank from the proverbial “sippy” lid on a paper cup. For the most part they are quite adequate and don’t leave a nasty taste like Styrofoam.

For me, the best coffee cup is the old thick and heavy ceramic mugs used at A & Ws’, Bob’s Big Boy, White Castle, and other sit-down restaurants from the 60’s (eyes are probably beginning to glaze over). I don’t think they are available anymore. I have one and I’m sure it is older than most reading this blog—older than Mike for sure. One of the reasons it’s still around is because it is almost indestructible. If you drop it the only thing you have to worry about is whether your toe is between it and the floor.

I’m not sure why I’m so attached to my old coffee mug. For one thing it doesn’t rob the coffee of its flavor, and the thick walls bring the coffee to a drinkable temperature in less than a minute. Once the mug has absorbed the heat it keeps a constant temperature for a good while. By tradition I only use it on Sunday mornings while I sit out on the patio reading the newspaper and reflecting on life. If the truth be told, it’s probably none of the above. It’s probably the long history and untold memories. It has out lasted a dozen or more coffee makers and—now that I think about it—a few friends.

With all the available choices do you have a preferred cup? Are there any cups that should be banned from use or used only to torture prisoners?

Steve writes a weekly blog for his business, Pet Safari, and a more controversial blog on conservative politics advocating smaller government and term limits. His other interests are photography, flying, and reading. He is married to his high school sweetheart and a father of three boys.