Sunday, May 9, 2010

REI Flip-Top Vacuum Tumbler - 15 fl. oz

Just like many of you, I frequently travel to coffee houses to purchase my daily cup of coffee, some days one cup, some days two.  I order my drink, enjoy it while surfing the net and throw away the cup and the heat sleeve.  Day after day, week after week more of the same, order, drink, throw away.  On most days, I have to push the empty coffee cup into the full garbage can because the workers can't keep up with the emptying of them.  In an effort to reduce my impact on the our landfills and to help out the coffee house workers, I decided to look into buying a reusable travel mug.

I researched the different types of travel mugs that are available and there are basically 2 types, spill proof and splash proof.  Spill proof will not spill because they has some type of stopper to prevent the liquid from spilling. These are great for putting them into your computer bag or backpack because you know that they won't spill and ruin the gear in your bag. The splash proof are designed to be carried in the upright position because their main function is to keep the liquid from splashing when jostled around.  Both the splash proof and the spill proof are insulated to help to keep the contents hot or cold. Which type that you choose, boils down to how you are going to use them, carried around in your hand or stowed in your bag.

After determining which type of travel mug that I wanted to use, which was spill proof, I checked online at one of my favorite gear shops, REI.  I decide to get the flip top version of the spill proof mug instead of the screw on top version because of the convenience of the flip top always being connected to the mug, nothing to loose or keep track of. The top flip opens and locks back to prevent it from smacking you in the face while drinking, a really nice feature.  The gray button is the stopper, up for closed and down for open, simple!  The beverage flows slowly and smoothly into the food grade sipping collar, no spilling on your shirt and tie here. My coffee stays warm for hours thanks to the double walled design and thermal seal on the stopper. Clean up is a breeze, unscrew the top, unscrew the stopper and rinse with hot water.  I chose to get two, one for cold and one for coffee.  They are available in natural stainless, navy blue, forest green and steel gray.  Pick up one of these travel mugs and you won't be sorry!

Chas