I have quite a collection of travel coffee mugs in my home, but I rarely get a chance to use any of them. Though there are many times when I will get in my car and go on long trips with friends, most of the time the coffee I buy comes in a Styrofoam cup you get in the store. This is because my husband often takes my travel coffee mugs to the car with him and he leaves them there for months on end. By the time I get around to finding them stuffed under the seat, I no longer trust that they are any good. When coffee and creamer have been sitting in the bottom of the mug, I feel that it is better to throw it away than to try to wash it.
Perhaps if travel coffee mugs were expensive I would not feel this way. However, if you open a mug that has had coffee sitting in it for months on end, you will be disgusted by what you see too. Though they could probably be washed and used again rather easily, I usually end up throwing them out anyway. My husband has done this to many of my travel coffee mugs, and this is why when it is time for me to go on the road I usually don’t have one to use.
Another problem with travel coffee mugs is that the lids always seem to get lost. There are three and my cupboard right now that have no lid. I use them to drink coffee here in the house, but I cannot take them in the car. The most important part of travel coffee mugs is the lid. You cannot take a couple coffee, or a cup of anything else for that matter, in the car with you unless you use a lid. Otherwise, you are going to have a huge mess on your hands.
Perhaps the best type of travel coffee mugs to buy are the ones that come with coffee refills. Some of them will come with free refills, while others will come with a discounted price on coffee. The second type of travel coffee mugs is the most common. I know if you buy one from my local convenience store you can get your coffee refills for half price. Perhaps I should get one of these travel coffee mugs for my husband. Perhaps if he knew he was getting half-price refills he would take better care of them.