My new collapsible travel mug

Last month, during Thrift Week, I noted that one disposable item I'd so far been unsuccessful in eliminating from my life was takeout coffee containers. I had, on occasion, brought my own mug along on a planned visit to a coffeehouse, but a mug big enough to accommodate even a Starbucks tall (12-ounce) beverage doesn't fit easily into my purse, so carrying one around with me on a regular basis was impractical. And since most of my visits to the coffee shop are impromptu, I almost always ended up saddled with a disposable cup.

However, I discovered that it is possible to buy a collapsible travel mug made of silicone that folds up small enough to fit in my purse, so I could carry it with me at all times. So I vowed at the time of my post that, if no one else got me one for my birthday, I'd get one for myself. And now, a month later, I not only have one but have finally had an opportunity to use it, so I can report on the success of the experiment.

The mug I got is not the Stojo Biggie I was originally considering, but this one from CreateLife, which is a bit cheaper and looked easier to use. It's a bit bigger than I expected: about 3.75 inches in diameter and 1.75 inches tall when fully collapsed. I had to move things around a bit in my purse to make room for it, but I was able to fit it in. When expanded to full size, it has a capacity of 550 mL, which means it can accommodate up to a Starbucks grande (16 ounces).

When I deployed this for the first time at Starbucks yesterday, I was pleased to see that the staff didn't bat an eye at my request to use my own mug. It even made collecting my order a bit easier for me, since I could see at a glance which drink was mine. It held my tall peppermint mocha with plenty of room for the whipped cream.

Drinking from the mug was a little bit more complicated than drinking from a disposable cup. Since the mug is made mostly of soft silicone, the only part that's rigid is the plastic sleeve that fits around the middle. So you have to take care to grab the cup only by that rigid middle section, not by the soft part, or you'll end up squeezing it too hard and splashing coffee everywhere (or possibly burning yourself, since the silicone parts also don't provide as much insulation). But I found this quite easy to adjust to.

I found it easy to drink from the cup with the lid off, but I couldn't put the sippy-cup lid to a good test, since I'd just come from the dentist and couldn't pucker up my mouth properly. I tried it later on with some water and it worked fine, but I still don't know how good it is for protecting your mouth from scalding hot liquid. The sippy top also has a little silicone tab that you can close up to prevent splashing—something you can't do with a disposable Starbucks cup.

Cleaning the cup was also quite easy. I just swiped it with the dish wand, then rinsed it, same as any other mug. However, I must admit that the silicone material tends to hold on to odors a little bit. When I got the cup out just now to test its capacity, I found that if I stuck my nose right inside, I could still faintly detect the odors of chocolate and peppermint. Not that I mind this, but it might be a bit incongruous if I wanted to fill it up with, say, hot cider on my next visit. But since I expect to use it pretty much exclusively for coffee, I think it will be fine. (I also didn't notice that the water I drank from it had any discernible hint of peppermint mocha flavor.)

Collapsing the mug back down after use is a bit tricky. If you just stick your hand on the top and shove it down, it won't fold neatly, as you can see here. So instead, you have to work your way up from the bottom, pushing it in gently section by section, then screwing on the top.

This will get it to a mostly-collapsed form, with only the bottom end sticking out. However, it's possible to push it in still further if you open the sippy-top tab, push the bottom in, then close the tab. This creates a vacuum that keeps it fully collapsed, so it's easier to fit in the purse.

So based on this first use, at least, I have no real complaints about this collapsible mug, and I consider it the ideal solution to my disposable-cup problem. Of course, only time will tell how durable it is, but if this paper from Tufts is to be believed, as long as I get at least 17 uses out of it, it should have a lower carbon footprint than the paper cups and plastic lids it replaces.