Published November 28, 2006.
We didn't find perfection, but we came close.
When we polled our staff about the best—and worst—features of commuter coffee mugs, we were surprised at the passion and frustration in the responses. Our test kitchen director gave a typical response: "I have very strong feelings about them and can't recommend one to you because I haven't found the perfect one yet." It turns out there are a lot of mugs that fall over on a bumpy road, cool down too quickly to survive a traffic jam, or are just plain awkward to handle while turning a wheel or holding a subway strap. So we ordered 11 mugs of different materials, shapes, and sipping structures and organized a battery of tests designed to define the ideal mug, which left us feeling a little like test drivers as we careened around corners trying to spill the coffee or dislodge the mugs.
