Death to Travel Mugs
It finally happened. Yesterday morning, I was leaving the house to drop the Bean at daycare and go to work. I was carrying the Bean, the Bean’s diaper bag, my purse, a bag with my lunch, and my coffee. I needed a free hand to lock the door, so I balanced my coffee on the railing next to the front door. I locked the door, and as I turned to get my coffee, one of the many bags draped over my shoulder reached the coffee before my hand could, and knocked it into the planter. All of the coffee splashed out of the mug and into the plants. The Bean and I stared at it for a few seconds, but we were running late, so I bid my coffee a silent but sad farewell, and we headed to the car.
I refuse to drink my morning coffee out of a travel mug. I HATE travel mugs. They distort the taste of the coffee, they have to be hand washed, and they keep the coffee too hot, which means I have to take tiny sips and I still burn my mouth. In the words of my nephew, “infinite thumbs down.” I want to drink my coffee out of a normal, ceramic mug. This wouldn’t be a problem if I drank my coffee at home while I was getting ready, but I usually drink my coffee in the car as I drive to work.
I have no doubt that I learned this preference from my dad. He always drank his coffee from a standard coffee mug while he drove to work. I remember in the early 1990s when my dad started leasing a silver Honda Accord with black leather interior. The car’s selling feature was its automatic seat belt, which slid into place when you shut the passenger door. We were all excited about this feature, and decided to watch from the driveway as my dad left for work for the first time in his shiny new car. He was wearing a suit and holding a mug full of hot coffee in his right hand, and he settled into the front seat. As he shut the door and the seat belt started its trek up towards his left shoulder, we all watched in horror as the seat belt knocked my dad’s hot coffee onto his chest and into his lap. He got out of the car, spiked the coffee mug onto the driveway, got back into his car, and drove away.
You would think this incident would have caused my dad to switch to using a travel mug, but it didn’t. And this memory wasn’t enough to cause me to use travel mugs as an adult. Sure, there are a lot of hazards that come with using an open coffee container. You have to drive with one hand, which isn’t exactly safe. You periodically spill your coffee all over yourself. I took a circular freeway onramp too quickly one morning, and a wave of coffee rose out of my mug and crashed onto my light gray suit pants. It was too late to turn back and change, so I wore coffee stained pants all day. Or, like yesterday, you occasionally knock your coffee into the planter and have to drive to work uncaffeinated.
The coffee planter incident got me thinking. Maybe this is dumb. Maybe I should just use a travel coffee mug. I could put it in one of the pockets of the Bean’s diaper bag, which would make getting out to the car much easier on the mornings when I drop the Bean at daycare. I wouldn’t spill on myself, and while I complain about the hand washing, I’ve been hand washing the Bean’s bottles for 13 months without a complaint. So what is it? Why can’t I use a travel mug?
It’s because travel coffee mugs make me feel trapped. If I drink my coffee out of a normal mug, I can pretend that I’m at home or in a diner instead of on my way to work. If I drink out of a travel mug, there’s only one option, and it’s an option I don’t like: I am on my way to work. So, while I don’t love wearing hot coffee, I will put up with it if I can have the luxury of 25 extra minutes of feeling free.