Brugo Mug – Tip and Sip

Find Me A Gift sent me a cool mug to try out.  The Brugo Mug is one of those insulated travel mugs you might fill with coffee before you leave and drink on your journey.  But apparently it’s more than that…

First thing’s first, the instructions on this really made me chuckle.  I mean, they’ve been written by a marketing person for sure.  Statements like “immediately enjoy the most vibrant flavours” and “puts each sip ‘in the zone'”, for example.  Hilarious.  I get it – this is a very “special” mug.  The little leaflet inside is beside the point though, it’s the mug itself you’re interested in.

The whole point to this mug is a unique “tip and sip” design in the lid.  Basically your coffee (or other hot drink, although the leaflet only mentions coffee) is kept hot in the insulated mug, as you would expect.  At the top there is an additional chamber.  You tip the mug away from you and gently rock the mug from side to side, filling that upper chamber with drink.  That is the equivalent to a mouthful of coffee being cooled slightly, so that when you then drink it from the hole in the lid, it is at the optimum temperature.  And I have to say, it really works.  It means that your coffee is ready to drink straight away – as soon as you’ve made it.  A great idea.

On the outside this is a really cool looking travel mug – different to some of the others you see around.  Mine is a really decent shade of purple but they come in all sorts of colours from green to black, blue to pink.  It doesn’t have a handle, which some people might not like but I’m happy with – it’s easy to hold and has raised lines around the middle to give you a bit of grip.  It fits fine in the cup holder in my car, and sits sturdily on my desk.  At the top it has a selector dial for locked (no coffee will come out of the drinking hole), tip and sip (using the chamber), and sip (drink like an ordinary insulated mug, bypassing the chamber).  The little hole in the top is plenty big enough for you to drink normally out of, and if you use the tip and sip setting don’t be afraid of tipping the mug right up – it won’t spill (well, it didn’t on me!).  Actually I found that when you do tip the mug away from you to fill the top chamber, you can hear it filling, so you have a good idea that it’s working and how much coffee you’re cooling.

My coffee was drinkable immediately, and seemed to stay at the same temperature for ages – I was busily working away when I first tested it and often find that my hot drink is cold before I’ve finished them – not with this.  I tried the mug with coffee (white coffee for me) and tea and it worked great for both.  It takes about 16oz/450ml of coffee, which is the size of a normal mug.

I really like this product, which surprised me after I read the instructions as I thought I was just going to get annoyed with it as it wouldn’t live up to all the hype.  But once I’d got over the mega claims (ie got rid of the leaflet!) I was well away, and am looking forward to more hot drinks on the move or at my desk without worrying about wasting half a mug full when it’s too cold.

Dare I say it… this would make a great Christmas gift (sorry for mentioning the C word in September!).