How The Lowly Coffee Cup Protects You With Every Sip
Michalis 'BIG Mike' Kotzakolios


Defined Tag: Coffee Cup.

It is not necessary to know how a coffee cup works in order to drink from it. Many people only require that their mug hold their coffee without spilling it. They do not want to know anything more, and that is fine. The cup's feelings won't be hurt. However, the simple cup does many things for the coffee drinker, whether or not the drinker is aware of them. These are some of the ways that your coffee drinking cup works hard for you each and every day.

The handle on the coffee mug is your first line of defense against burns. Coffee is brewed just below the boiling point of water, so it is extremely hot when placed into the cup. Coffee mugs are made of porcelain or ceramic, which are insulating materials. The cup is not thick enough to be a total insulator, so the outside of the cup quickly heats to uncomfortable temperatures. Cup handles protect you from the hot surface. The handle stays cool by looping outward away from the cup. Some heat may travel to the cup handle, but not enough to cause a burn.

Cups for coffee service are much heavier and denser than glass cups. The cup material has insulating properties that help the coffee drinker in two ways. Your coffee mug unselfishly absorbs some of the heat from the near-boiling coffee you pour into it. The coffee temperature is quickly lowered towards a safer drinking level. As the coffee begins to cool, the cup releases some of that stored heat, keeping the coffee warm. Some people utilize a cup warmer for their coffee, but that just continues the work begun by the cup itself.

Coffee mugs are made from non-porous materials that do not absorb liquids. Coffee drinkers have the bad habit of leaving cold coffee in their cup for days at a time. Coffee, sugar and cream make an excellent breeding ground for bacteria and its relatives. Fortunately, your cup is easily sanitized by a standard dishwasher. In half an hour your cup will be shiny, clean and germ-free.

You probably don't care that your cup does all these things when you drink coffee from it. That is fine, because the mug requires no special recognition from you. An occasional run through the dishwasher is all the attention the lowly coffee cup needs.

BIG Mike is a well known author, developer and Adsense expert as well as the owner of Niche Maniacs - a unique Adsense Marketing System designed to build long-term passive income streams from Adsense, Amazon, YPN, Chitika and other PPC services.