The Best Travel Mugs That Keep Your Coffee Hot and You Happy
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Nothing kills a morning faster than expecting a hot sip of coffee, only to be met with lukewarm disappointment. Insulated travel mugs can keep your beverage at the ideal temperature, whether you're commuting, hiking, or just desk-bound. There's a wide world of stainless steel mugs, bottles, and tumblers out there, but here are the ones we think are worth carrying around.
Be sure to check out our guides to the Best Coffee Subscriptions, Best Coffee Grinders, Best Espresso Machines, Best Portable Coffee Makers, Best AeroPress Coffee Makers, and How to Make Better Coffee at Home.
Updated November 2024: We flagged picks that confirm lead use and added information on how we test. We also updated links and prices.
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A Note on Lead Soldering
Since we began testing reusable water bottles and travel mugs, we've discovered that some brands use lead soldering to seal their insulated bottles. While exposure is unlikely, we still believe it's an unnecessary risk, especially since many of our top choices use safer sealing methods. We've flagged any brands that confirmed lead use and will keep this list updated as we hear from others.
- Stanley Cup
- Contigo Luxe Autoseal
- Yeti Rambler
- OtterBox Elevation
How We Tested
To put these bottles to the test, we filled each with cold water and hot coffee, then left them both outside in indirect sunlight and inside with the AC running. All of them held up to their promised insulation times, keeping cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot. Then again, it's rare to run across an insulated bottle that's a total failure at its one job these days. But also, it's rare to find a travel mug that stands out. We looked for features that make or break the experience—leak-proofing, exterior coating, and the cap design.
Note: While all of these bottles can handle cold beverages, you may prefer a reusable water bottle or tumbler (especially if you're an ice coffee drinker).
- Photograph: Backcountry
Best for Most
Hydro Flask 16 oz Coffee with Flex Sip LidHydro Flask's powder coating is practically indestructible. It's a great option for those who are looking for a low-maintenance mug that doesn't require careful handling. Former writer Medea Giordano has had her 16-ounce Flex Sip for over four years, and she has yet to see a dent or scratch (hoping this doesn't jinx it). The pebbled texture is grippy, an additional bonus for those of us with sweaty palms. It's built to withstand travel—and maybe a bit of chaos.
- Photograph: Medea Giordano
If You Love a Handle
Hydro Flask Coffee Mug (12 Ounce)Picture this: You're sitting by the fire under a starry sky, sipping hot cocoa, then waking up at sunrise to morning coffee by the lake. A handleless mug just doesn't do that scene justice. Hydro Flask's coffee mug brings that camp aesthetic to life, with its snug handle and the brand's tough powder-coated finish that can handle just about anything. The lid has a practical slider, letting you open it to sip and close it to keep any curious bugs out. It's not leak-proof, but it won't drip on you while you're drinking either. I also appreciate the mug's stainless steel rim that's comfortable to sip from sans lid.
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- Photograph: Ello
The Coziest
Ello Campy Travel Mug (16 Ounce)This camp cup is awfully charming, harkening back to the classic blue, enameled camp cups that ooze 20th-century Americana. Like all the tumblers on this list, it’s vacuum-insulated to keep hot drinks hot and cold ones cold. Its screw-on plastic lid, with a sliding lever for sipping, is leak-proof enough…if you shake it too hard, it’ll drip, but I couldn’t get it to spill by knocking it down. The handle is plastic to avoid conducting heat from hot contents, and the inner part of the handle is lined with cork. The Campy isn’t enameled—just painted to look like it—but it pulls off the effect well.
- Photograph: Amazon
For Coffee Snobs
Fellow Carter (16 Ounce)The Carter's screw-on cap swaps the standard sippy hole for a wide opening that lets you actually savor the coffee's aroma. At 69 millimeters wide, it's compatible with most manual coffee brewers, like the AeroPress or Hario Coffee Dripper. The ceramic coating keeps your beverage free from metallic aftertastes, and its matte exterior feels just as durable as the Hydro Flask's. Also, it's spill-proof; toss it into your laptop bag, no worries.
- Photograph: Kat Merck
Best for Road Trips
Ember Travel Mug 2+Once the sticker shock on this “smart mug” subsides, anyone who loves coffee and travels an hour or more on a regular basis is in for a treat. A notable improvement on their already-awesome desktop mug, the Ember Travel Mug 2 is a waterproof tumbler with several tech-y features that will curb the need for pit stops for truck stop coffee or the stray Starbucks drive-thru if you’re lucky. In our testing the internal battery kept 16 ounces of coffee at 135º for a little over two hours, and the optional 12v car charger charger ($49.99) kept the temperature consistent and the battery fully-charged for an entire 4-hour trip. We knocked it around in a duffle bag filled with clean clothes and not a drop of liquid fell out. Tap the logo on the front to view the battery level, and another tap enables a temperature dial that’s responsive and intuitive to use. Hold down the power button on the bottom to activate the built-in tracking device that pairs with any iOS phone and its Find My functionality, allowing you to trigger alerts akin to those of an AirTag if you leave the device at the office or on a bus.—Pete Cottell
Photograph: AmazonHonorable Mentions
More Travel Mugs We TriedWe've run through many travel mugs, and not all of them are winners. These are a few we like, just not as much as the ones above.
- KeepCup 12oz Coffee Cup for $30: This double-walled, insulated mug is meant to replicate (and replace) paper coffee shop cups. This is a solid option if you're looking for a glass cup (the rubber grip is plastic, though). That said, it’s not the best for preserving your coffee's temperature, and the lid is a tad wobbly.
- Oxo Good Grips Thermal Mug for $37: We reviewed this bottle in 2022 and appreciated its sturdy build and dishwasher-friendliness, but since it's older it now fluctuates in and out of stock.
- REI Co-op Camp Mug for $23: REI's stainless steel cup is a decent mug that doesn't particularly stand out. Giordano says the exterior coating was tough enough to show no scratches, even after knocking it over a few times outside.
- Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug for $29: The lid locks to avoid accidental spillage, and Giordano once left tea in it for 18 hours (unintentionally) and discovered it was still hot when she opened it. The downside is that the cover has three separate parts—a mouthpiece, a gasket, and a lid—that are deeply ridged and annoying to clean.
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Photograph: StanleyAvoid These Travel Mugs
They can't all be winners. As mentioned above, we intentionally excluded brands that use lead. These are two additional cups that just fell short in comparison to our favorites.
- Greens Steel Beast 20-Ounce Insulated Tumbler for $21: The Beast Tumbler has over 78,000 positive reviews on Amazon, but we found the rubber seal around the lid easily comes out of place. That meant it leaked like a sieve.
- Toaks Titanium Double Wall 450ML Cup for $40: More often than not, we champion Toaks gear as an affordable source of titanium camp cookware. But this mug is $12 more than the Hydro Flask mug we recommend above, and its finishing is rougher.
