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Ditch the disposable for a reusable coffee cup that will save you money while protecting the planet. Recycled Double Wall Clear Bottle
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The last time you visited your favorite coffee shop for your daily brew, you may have noticed a bunch of people bringing their own reusable coffee cup for the barista to fill. With climate change such a serious issue, the world is focusing on sustainable living, and you may want to consider buying a reusable cup or two yourself. Not only will it help save the planet, but over the long term, it’ll also save you money.
As we all look for easy ways to go green, we’ve found the best eco-friendly reusable straws, the best eco-friendly water bottles, and the best eco-friendly tote bags. Now, we’re sharing our choices for the best reusable coffee cup in a variety of categories. They’re not only great for sustainability, but they may even make your brew taste better.
Unlike disposable coffee cups, which are used once and thrown away, reusable coffee cups are meant to be used over and over again, saving the environment and money. “We love a good, old-fashioned coffee mug,” says Sheila Morovati, founder and president of Habits of Waste, a nonprofit organization focused on changing consumer habits related to water consumption, energy use, air pollution, and more. “It’s great to enjoy your coffee in a familiar mug or to-go tumbler that you can reuse infinitely.”
Ease your climate anxiety by using a to-go mug that works for both your hottest and chilliest drinks. Boasting more than 22,000 five-star reviews, this stainless steel mug is a favorite of coffee and tea lovers alike. “My tea stayed very hot in this bottle for over 24 hours; I was and still am amazed,” writes one reviewer, adding, “I’ve been using it since then, and it has consistently kept hot drinks hot for an absurd length of time, and I have also never experienced any leaks.” It’s available in three sizes and 24 colors.
This sleek little reusable coffee cup glass was designed by baristas, so you know it’s perfect for bringing into a coffee shop and getting your exact drink of choice. It has more than 2,300 five-star reviews, with one user raving, “I absolutely love this product and use it every day! This is a very beautiful way to help the environment.” Another writes, “It’s the perfect size, easy to throw in my bag (empty, of course), and I get a ton of compliments on this.” The reusable coffee cup is clear, so you can see what you’re sipping, and it even features a stylish cork band to act as a temperature sleeve. Want to reduce your carbon footprint even further? Drive around in one of these eco-friendly cars—the electric vehicles, in particular, produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than cars that use fossil fuel.
This ceramic travel mug is made by Lenox, so you know it’s high quality and absolutely beautiful. In fact, one five-star reviewer says, “This is actually the first time I’ve ever gotten a compliment on a coffee mug, but my coworker was very impressed when I walked in holding this. It really is a beautiful cup, both the design and the quality of the material. Even the lid is well designed and easy to use and clean.” Bonus: If you ever find a new favorite mug, you can upcycle this one—it’d make a gorgeous vase.
This patented coffee cup is made with the highest-standard, European-grade silicone. Unlike most other silicone cups, it’s 100 percent plastic free. And thanks to a stainless steel ring embedded inside the rim of the cup, it’s strong enough to hold its shape even when you grip it hard. GoSili is a sustainable brand known for its reusable straws, and one is included here for smooth sipping.
With more than 125,000 five-star reviews (you read that right), this number one best seller comes in more than two dozen colors and is, as one reviewer raves, “Perfect!” Why? “I have been using this for three months and can say without equivocation that it’s the best tumbler I’ve ever had. Does it keep my coffee hot? Oh yeah—for hours! Is it durable? Absolutely—unbreakable, undentable, completely stainless. Is it easy to clean? Takes a few seconds. Dark coffee, hot chocolate, tea, you name it—it rinses out in seconds with zero staining.” We’re sold! It’s dishwasher safe too (use an eco-friendly cleaning product in the machine).
With an immediately recognizable logo that reflects exactly how your morning java will make you feel (read: energized), this popular vessel makes it easy to take your favorite drink on the go. One five-star reviewer writes that it “offers the perfect combination of all of the factors I seek in a travel coffee mug: It’s spill proof, sized nicely to fit in cup holders and your hand, the cap is easy to clean and reassemble (each piece is labeled), lots of color options to suit a variety of preferences.” Plus, it features a comfortable handle for toting and comes from a company that supports an organization working to eliminate plastic pollution.
This pretty mug is a collaboration between Corkcicle and Rifle Paper Co., and it features the best of both brands: lovely design and stylish sustainability. Triple insulated, it keeps your coffee hot for three hours, and it has a sliding, shatterproof clear lid to prevent spills. A Reader’s Digest editor who received the blue hydrangea mug as a gift has been using it daily for months. “I’m officially obsessed. It’s super lightweight, holds the perfect amount of tea, and doesn’t dribble when the lid’s in use. And unlike other reusable coffee mugs cluttering my cabinets, this one doesn’t affect the taste of my drink.”
With more than 12,000 five-star reviews, this Amazon’s Choice mug is a bargain, but as one reviewer writes, “Don’t let the low price fool you. This cup works great!” Vacuum insulated, it’s made from stainless steel and will keep your coffee hot for hours. It comes in more than a dozen colors and will keep your hands burn-free. Keep greening your life by learning how to save energy (and money!).
This beautifully simple travel mug is simply beautiful—especially when it’s customized with a name, a date, or a favorite saying. Hundreds of five-star reviewers agree, with one writing, “If there’s a better tumbler out there, I’d be surprised. This is an incredible tumbler. I had this particular one personalized, and the quality of the text was superb. We now have three of these in our home.” Not only does it retain heat for 12 hours, but it also has a leakproof seal and snap-in splash guard to avoid mishaps.
If you’re short on storage space or just hate carrying a cup with you, this is one of the best travel mugs around. Perfect for “grande” servings at your favorite coffee shop, this BYO cup collapses down to two inches when you’re not using it, so you can keep one in your bag and one in your glove compartment. Made of silicone, it’s leakproof and dishwasher safe for easy cleaning. It comes with its own straw, is available in 25 colors, and fits in any standard cupholder. Talk about the perfect tool for sustainable travel.
This insulated tumbler is so well designed, you’ll want to use it everywhere—for both iced and hot coffee. It will keep hot drinks hot and iced drinks chilled for hours without sweating. It’s even ice cube friendly. Plus, you just press the center button to open and reseal the leakproof lid. It comes in two sizes and is simple and sleek in sophisticated black or white.
You can recycle a whole lot, but just as important is learning to reuse. That’s where the Classic Legendary Camp Mug comes in. Made with Stanley’s signature double-wall vacuum insulation to keep coffee piping hot, this great-looking stainless steel cup comes in nine colors and is designed for use “in the kitchen, on the job, or around the campfire.” Users love it, with one five-star reviewer writing, “It keeps my coffee really hot for a long time. It’s nice to sit out on the deck and still have hot coffee an hour later.” Another one says, “If there’s such a thing as a ‘Modern Classic,’ Stanley has achieved that title!” You’ll use it again and again (and again).
Coffee and tea drinkers love the Ember mug because it keeps their beverage of choice at their preferred temperature for three hours when traveling and all day on the charging coaster that comes with it. One five-star reviewer calls it “one of the best investments I’ve ever purchased” and adds, “My wife is a daily coffee drinker, and she loves it! The app is very cool and useful. Nice stand, and the rubber feet keep the cup secure.” You can set the temperature remotely from your smartphone, and the LED display informs you when it’s too hot to drink, when it’s reached the desired temperature, or when the mug needs to be recharged.
A staggering 50 billion disposable coffee cups are used annually in the United States alone. Though many people think the cups can be recycled, they can’t.
“They are lined with about 5 percent polyurethane plastic; otherwise, your hot coffee would seep through the paper portion and become a huge mess. So there are several problems: You ingest microplastics with each cup of coffee or tea you drink, as the plastic does break down in the hot temperature of your drink,” says Morovati. “Next, only about one percent of these disposable coffee cups are recycled, and that is likely through a special recycling plant that can manage these mixed products. Although not all paper cups are coated in plastic—some are lined in wax—determining which is which can be difficult, so those don’t get recycled either.”
Australia and the United Kingdom have taken steps to ban disposable coffee cups, and although no U.S. cities or states have done the same, Starbucks is aiming to completely phase them out by 2025, and many San Francisco cafes are banning them altogether.
When Starbucks tested a ban on disposable coffee cups in South Korea, the company eliminated 200,000 paper cups that would have ended up in the trash in just three months.
If the environmental impact isn’t as important to you as cost savings, then maybe this will persuade you to pick up a reusable cup: You’ll get a 10-cent discount each time you bring your own cup. And if you’re a Starbucks Rewards member, you’ll also get 25 Stars. Since you get a free coffee at 50 Stars, that means you’ll be getting every third coffee for free.
“Switching from disposable to reusable coffee cups is one of the easiest habits of waste you can change,” says Morovati. “Reusable cups keep your drink warm longer and can prevent unnecessary waste. Additionally, making your coffee at home and drinking from a reusable cup can save you up to $1,175 a year.”
Reusable coffee mugs are typically made from a few different materials, and which one is best is really a matter of personal preference. We asked Morovati to give us the scoop.
According to Morovati, “insulated mugs have an outer and inner wall with space in between them, which helps to keep the drink warmer longer.” To keep your coffee warm in an uninsulated mug, you’ll need some kind of cover.
Lois Alter Mark is an award-winning travel, lifestyle and shopping writer for Reader’s Digest, Forbes and USA Today 10Best. She’s written numerous shopping guides for Reader’s Digest, including the best cooling blankets, best Amazon gifts under $50, hard vs. soft luggage and bamboo pajamas.
We consulted Sheila Morovati, founder and president of Habits of Waste, for her expertise on the benefits of switching from disposable to reusable coffee mugs.
To find the best reusable coffee cups, we asked experts, our colleagues, and our friends for their favorites, then read hundreds of reviews to see what other users were saying. We tested many of them ourselves and compiled this list to include a go-to cup for every type of coffee drinker.
According to Morovati, whether or not a coffee cup is biodegradable depends on the materials it is made from. Glass and ceramic will biodegrade over time, while stainless steel and silicone need to be recycled in a specific way. Even reusable materials that aren’t biodegradable are better for the environment than a plastic reusable coffee cup or disposable cups made from styrofoam or plastic- and wax-lined paper.
Many reusable coffee mugs are dishwasher safe—or at least top-rack dishwasher safe. Always follow the cleaning instructions on the specific item. Be sure to clean stainless steel vessels thoroughly to avoid mold.
If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, take steps that make your life a little greener. Learn how to compost, for instance, or how to recycle (the right way). Invest in one of the best recycling bins so you can reduce the amount of waste headed for landfills, or make changes to reduce your water consumption.
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