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Travel Mug SM-YAE48

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Our compact, leak-proof‡ Travel Mug takes up minimal space while maximizing capacity. It features a stain resistant  SlickSteel ® polished stainless steel interior, and a wide opening that makes this mug easy to fill and clean.

• Stainless steel vacuum insulation keeps beverages hot or cold for hours
• Safety lock prevents accidentally spilling
• Air vent design on the opening allows for beverages to flow out smoothly
• 2-step lid release process minimizes dew spattering from the lid
• Whole mug can be washed under water
• 5 year warranty on heat retention

‡Travel mug is leak-proof when used properly according to the instruction manual

More details

Specifications.

Model No. SM-YAE48 Capacity 16 oz. / 0.48 liter Dimensions (W x D x H) 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 8-5/8 inches Weight (lbs. oz.) 0.11 Heat Retention* 178°F @ 1 hr. / 133°F @ 6 hrs. Cold Retention** 50°F @ 6 hrs. Color Lime Green (-GA), Cherry Red (-RA), Dark Cocoa (-TD), Stainless (-XA) *Rating is based on water at a starting temperature of 203°F (95°C) at a room temperature of 68°F (20°C) **Rating is based on water at a starting temperature of 40°F (4°C) at a room temperature of 68°F (20°C)

Replacement Parts

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Zojirushi 5-Year Warranty on Stainless Steel Vacuum Heat Retention

Stopper Cover Set (Black) for SM-YAE48XA

Stopper cover set (brown) for sm-yae48td, lid cover gasket for sm-yae, stopper cover set (red) for sm-yae48ra, stopper cover set (green) for sm-yae48ga.

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The Best Travel Mug

By Trey French and Anna Perling

Hot drinks are a daily staple for many, and just as important as the beverage is the travel mug that keeps it warm while you’re on the go.

After a decade of testing travel mugs, we still recommend the Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug for most people. It keeps drinks hot for hours, and its locking lid stays securely closed, even when you toss the mug into a bag. We also have another option, which fits better in most cup holders, for use while you’re driving.

Everything we recommend

Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug

The best travel mug.

This mug offers the best heat retention, plus one-handed usability and a locking, leakproof lid, which makes it especially useful if you carry your mug in a bag or backpack.

Buying Options

Stanley Classic Trigger-Action Travel Mug (16 ounces)

A wider mug for drivers.

This wider mug fit securely in our testers’ cup holders, and its spill-proof lid design is good for rough roads. It doesn’t retain heat as well as the Zojirushi mug—a fact that some people might actually appreciate.

OXO Good Grips Water Bottle Cleaning Set

For cleaning your mug.

This bottle-cleaning set has a skinny straw brush and a looped detail-cleaning brush, which are all you need to keep your travel mug squeaky clean.

The 16-ounce Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug keeps beverages hot for hours, even in cold environments. It has a well-designed exterior, an easy-to-clean nonstick Teflon interior, and a foolproof lid-locking mechanism that you can operate with one hand.

The mug is lightweight and slim, but it may not fit snugly in some cup holders. However, thanks to its locking lid, we were comfortable carrying it around in a bag, without worrying about leaks.

This Zojirushi model is pricey for a travel mug, but this is the mug we trust most not to spill in a bag, and it’s hard to put a price on that. (Actually, that would be about the price of a new bag, laptop, phone, and whatever else happened to be in there at the time.)

It’s also available in a 20-ounce version .

Like other Zojirushi products, it comes with a five-year warranty.

The 16-ounce Stanley Classic Trigger-Action Travel Mug is wider and fits better in most car cup holders than the Zojirushi mug. The lid has an auto-sealing button that prevents spills, and when you drink, it won’t block your view of the road ahead.

Although this Stanley model may not keep drinks as hot as the Zojirushi mug, some people might prefer such results—we’ve heard many complaints over the years of the Zojirushi mug keeping drinks too hot.

Both the mug and the lid are dishwasher safe, but the lid has fewer parts than that of our top pick, so it is easier to disassemble and hand-wash if you prefer to clean it that way.

And let’s not forget that these things need cleaning regularly. That’s why we also have a bottle-brush recommendation for when you need to clean out the gunk .

The research

Why you should trust us, who this is for, how we picked, how we tested, our pick: zojirushi sm-sf stainless steel mug (16 ounces), also great: stanley classic trigger-action travel mug (16 ounces), also great: oxo good grips water bottle cleaning set, other good travel mugs, the competition.

We’ve been testing travel mugs since 2013. Previous versions of this guide were written and researched by Séamus Bellamy and Anna Perling. In 2023, staff writer Trey French wrote the latest update to this guide. He gained an appreciation of high-performing insulated drinkware while spring camping in Colorado when the temperatures dropped below freezing.

In addition to conducting our own tests, we spoke to engineers and industry professionals about mug design, ideal coffee and tea drinking temperatures, and the best way to find out how long coffee will really stay good in a travel mug.

Travel mugs, as their name implies, are for people who want to take beverages on the go. Compared with paper or Styrofoam cups, a good travel mug offers better insulation and safeguards against leaks or spills. In addition, you can save money in the long run and reduce your environmental impact by using a travel mug.

Tumblers, thermoses, and insulated water bottles are all close cousins to the travel mug but have some important differences:

• Tumblers have sipping ports that don’t seal as tightly or securely as on travel mugs and have wider mouths for you to add ice cubes. Many also have straws for you to sip cold beverages.
• Thermoses usually lack the slim size and lid-design features that make travel mugs portable and convenient. With a thermos, instead of popping open a lid to take a sip, you need to unscrew the cap and pour liquid into an open cup to drink.
• Insulated water bottles are geared toward keeping drinks cold and don’t have sipping ports like travel mugs do. Instead, they often have screw-top lids that require two hands to open and close, or they have sport caps, which aren’t great for hot drinks.

To determine which travel mugs to test, we look for mugs that advertise the following qualities:

Vacuum-insulated: All of the mugs we consider are double-walled and vacuum-insulated .

Capable of retaining heat all day: We look for mugs that claim to keep hot beverages drinkably warm for at least eight hours.

Made of stainless steel: Stainless steel is more durable than glass or ceramic and retains heat better than plastic. It’s also the best material for vacuum insulation and therefore heat retention.

Leakproof and spill-proof: A leakproof seal keeps a closed lid from leaking if the mug jostles. A spill-proof seal guards against spills should you drop the mug or knock it over; such seals typically incorporate a push button, like the one found on the Stanley Classic Trigger-Action.

Easy to use: A good mug should be easy to both open and close, as well as to lock and unlock, with one hand. It should also be easy to disassemble for cleaning. We look for mugs that advertise these features or have reviews indicating that they are easy to use.

Between 12 and 20 ounces in capacity: We’ve concluded that 16 ounces is the optimal capacity for a travel mug, as it delays the need for a refill while remaining portable and easy to hold. Some people prefer wider mugs that don’t rattle in cup holders, while others like slimmer mugs that take up less space in backpacks or bags. We test both styles.

After considering the everyday wear and tear that a travel mug might go through in real-world scenarios, we devised tests to mimic those scenarios. During our tests, we use the mugs daily, evaluating them for simple enjoyability.

• Leak and spill tests: We test mugs for leaky seals by shaking them upside down, dropping them, and carrying them in bags.
• Drop test: We drop each mug three times from a height of 4 feet onto asphalt.
• Insulation test: We fill each mug with boiling water and then measure how quickly the water cools over eight hours, checking every hour.
• Ease of cleaning: We wash each mug, following instructions; we also take apart their lids and wash those. We check for lingering smells and to see if the finish on the mug is harmed.
• Cup holder compatibility: We test the mugs in cup holders of varying sizes (2.75, 3.5, and 3.75 inches in diameter).

The 16-ounce Zojirushi SM-SF Stainless Steel Mug is the best travel mug for keeping drinks hot for long periods of time. This mug also comes in a 20-ounce size. (The SM-SF is the current model; these model designations often change from year to year, but the mugs themselves stay the same.)

It kept our drinks the hottest. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the best temperature range for coffee is 145 to 155 degrees Fahrenheit. After sitting for eight hours in the Zojirushi mug in a 72-degree room, our water measured 158 degrees—hotter than in any other mug we tested. That translates to hot coffee over a full workday. (If you’re opening the mug more frequently than once an hour, however, it might cool a bit faster.)

It won’t leak. It has sturdy, leakproof seals and a simple locking mechanism. Just close the lid, switch the lock into position, and you’re guaranteed that the top won’t pop open when you don’t want it to—when you’re carrying the mug in a bag, for instance.

It’s easy enough to keep clean. The nonstick interior helps to prevent odors and stains, though the mug’s instructions do warn against storing milk or fruit juices in the mug. (If you prefer drinking from a vessel that doesn’t have a nonstick coating, you might consider the Zojirushi SM-KHE , which has an electro-polished stainless steel interior.) The narrow girth makes it hard to get a sponge inside, but using a bottle brush circumvents that problem. You can disassemble the plastic lid to clean out any gunk that might be lodged in hard-to-reach places, although the small plastic and silicone parts can be difficult to get on and off the lid.

It’s durable. Though this mug developed a few scuffs in our drop tests, it acquired no more than the other mugs we tried, some of which fared far worse. Zojirushi backs the vacuum insulation of its stainless steel mugs with a five-year limited warranty, and the company sells individual replacement parts online .

It’s simple. The Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug has an attractive design that’s minimalist yet eye-catching in its simplicity.  The 20-ounce version comes in only one color (navy), but our pick, the 16-ounce version, comes in three (navy, pale pink, mint blue).

How the Zojirushi mug has held up

The Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug might be the single most commonly owned and used product among Wirecutter staffers; it has traveled in many crowded bags, backpacks, and purses without any problems. One staff member did report that after eight years of use, hers finally developed a leak. Another colleague says that their mug has survived drops onto cement (once from a third-floor balcony) without suffering more than a dent.

Zojirushi specifies hand-washing only, but we know of several mugs that have survived accidental trips through the dishwasher without any noticeable decrease in performance, though the external paint has flaked as a result.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The Zojirushi mug is sometimes too good at insulating. We’ve found that if we pour fresh coffee directly into the mug, the liquid can stay scalding hot for hours. To prevent burning your mouth, let your beverage cool a little before closing the lid.
• It’s not cup holder friendly. This model, which is more narrow than a typical travel mug, did not fit snugly in our testers’ car cup holders. If you prefer a travel mug with a larger circumference, check out our also-great pick.
• It isn’t spill-proof. Though the SM-SF is leakproof, it isn’t spill-proof like our also-great pick; the design lacks an automatic seal to prevent liquid from spilling if you drop the mug while you’re drinking.

The 16-ounce Stanley Classic Trigger-Action Travel Mug is our recommendation for use in a car, as it’s a great spill-proof mug that keeps drinks hot and fits in a cup holder.

It’s designed for drivers. Wider than the Zojirushi mug, this Stanley model fit more securely in our testers’ car cup holders. The top of the mug is narrower than the base, though, to help reduce heat loss through the lid. (Experts told us that the lid is where a double-walled mug loses the most heat.) And the design has no pop-up lid to bump your nose or block your eyes while you’re drinking.

It’s spill-proof, unlike the Zojirushi mug. You do need to hold down a button to keep the sipping port open to drink from the mug, which may be frustrating to some people. However, this design prevents spills—whether from rough roads, say, or if you accidentally knock the mug over while reaching for it—since the mug closes automatically. Other mugs we tested, such as the Contigo Autoseal Transit and West Loop (both former runners-up), had similar buttons, but the button on the Classic Trigger-Action was easier to press and hold. Unlike the Zojirushi model, this mug has no lock to secure its lid, but it never leaked in our tests.

It keeps drinks hot long enough. The Classic Trigger-Action can’t keep your beverages quite as hot for quite as long as our top pick can, but that might be a plus for those who complain that the Zojirushi mug keeps drinks too hot. When we boiled water and let it sit in this Stanley mug, the water took only three hours to cool to 158 degrees (whereas water in the Zojirushi mug took eight hours to reach that temperature). After eight hours, the water in the Classic Trigger-Action measured 132 degrees—26 degrees cooler than the water in the Zojirushi mug. If you drink your beverages quickly or don’t want to wait for them to cool down before sealing your mug, the Classic Trigger-Action may be a better option for you.

It’s tough. This mug endured our drop tests, sporting only light scuffing on the plastic lid and minor dents at the side of the base of its body. Like Zojirushi’s five-year warranty, Stanley’s lifetime warranty covers only manufacturer defects, not damage to mug components due to accidents or wear. Should you damage the lid or simply lose it, you can buy a replacement lid .

It’s dishwasher safe. Both the mug body and the lid can go in the dishwasher. The lid has some hard-to-reach nooks and crannies, so be sure to disassemble it for the best cleaning results. Stanley’s lid has fewer pieces than Zojirushi’s lid and is easier to take apart.

You have more color choices. If you care about colors, the Classic Trigger-Action comes in many—about a dozen at last count. This mug also comes in a 20-ounce size .

The OXO Good Grips Water Bottle Cleaning Set is the best bottle-cleaning set. It comes with a large bottle brush, a skinny straw brush, and a looped detail-cleaning brush, all kept together on a handy ring so you won’t lose any of the parts. The set is dishwasher safe, and we found that it works well for anyone looking to remove gunk from travel mugs and other hard-to-clean items.

If you want a mug with a locking lid for about half the price of our top pick: Consider the GSI Microlite 500 Flip , which keeps liquids almost as hot as the Zojirushi mug and has a similar one-handed flip top with a lock.

However, when we dropped this GSI mug to the ground when the lid was unlocked, the lid popped open and spilled coffee everywhere—and the exact same thing happened when we dropped it a second time. Eventually, we dropped the mug enough, accidentally, to break the lid; GSI does sell replacement lids.

This mug, which has a large sipping port, also has a higher flow rate than our picks, and may require more careful sipping when the beverage is really hot.

If the Zojirushi mug is out of stock: You might look into the MiiR 360 Traveler , which in our tests kept drinks almost as hot and resisted denting just as well as our top pick. When it’s unlocked, its sipping port allows you to drink from anywhere on the lid’s circumference. We decided not to make it a pick because we struggled to decipher whether the sipping port was open or closed—which in turn led to spills. Unlike some twist-to-open 360-degree ports, the MiiR 360 Traveler’s lid has a push button for operation that forms the center of the lid, and at a glance, it looks nearly the same whether closed or open.

The mug is also available in a flip-top version called the Flip Traveler , but we’ve found flip-top lids prone to breaking during our drop tests. The mug bodies for the 360 Traveler and the Flip Traveler are the same, and the lids are interchangeable, in case you buy one and then decide that you’d like to try the other.

We’ve considered and evaluated several other Zojirushi travel mugs throughout our testing. Here’s a breakdown:

• Zojirushi SM-WR : Almost identical to the SM-SF series, this version has an integrated gasket, which reduces the total pieces to clean. We like it almost as much as our top pick. However, it dispenses a little faster than the SM-SF, which is good for cold drinks but can be too much for really hot drinks.
• Zojirushi SM-YAE : This 16-ounce mug costs a little more than our main pick. It comes with an electro-polished interior, like the Zojirushi SM-KHE, but has a shape that’s stouter than other Zojirushi mugs and short enough to fit under the spout of a single-cup brewing machine. In our tests, however, it fell short of our picks in insulating performance: After eight hours, the water temperature had dropped to 100 degrees, 58 degrees cooler than the water in our top pick.
• Zojirushi SM-SHE : We were reluctant to test this mug due to persistent stock issues. Zojirushi sent us one to try out anyway, but it broke during our drop test.
• Zojirushi SM-JHE : We opted not to test this mug because it has a wide-mouth, screw-off lid.
• Zojirushi SM-JTE : We also elected not to test this model, which has a tea-leaf filter, due to its screw-off lid.

The JoeVeo Temperfect Javabliss 16 Travel Mug brings a scalding drink down to a drinkable temperature and holds it there by using a third layer in its wall to capture excess heat and then release it over time. It isn’t leakproof or spill-proof, though.

The 17-ounce Kinto Travel Tumbler insulates well—so well that it was the third-best contender at insulating in our tests behind the Zojirushi SM-SF and GSI Microlite 500 Flip. Drinking from it requires fully removing the lid, though, as well as finding a place to put the lid.

After dismissing previous iterations of the Hydro Flask travel mug, we tested the 20-ounce Hydro Flask Coffee Cup with Flex Sip Lid , and it was a clear improvement over older models. It kept drinks hot for about a half day, and it resisted denting better than about half of the other tested mugs. The lid requires two hands to open and close, however, so it can be tough to open while you’re distracted, and it has a tendency to “burp” a small amount of liquid when you rotate the lid from closed to open.

The 16-ounce OXO Good Grips Thermal Mug with SimplyClean Lid resembles—and insulates about as well as—the Hydro Flask mug we tested, keeping drinks hot for a half day. It also shares that model’s flaws, requiring two hands to open and close, and burping some liquid.

The Klean Kanteen Insulated Wide Mouth Water Bottle was a previous runner-up in this guide, as well as a former insulated water bottle pick, but we found that the lid occasionally leaked when we left the bottle on its side overnight.

The 18-ounce Purist Mover with Scope Lid insulates nearly as well as our picks and has a 360-degree sip lid, which lets you drink from any side of the mug. It requires two hands to open and close, though.

We broke the flip-top lid of the 20-ounce Welly Traveler , as well as the glued-on product-label plate on the bottom of the mug, the first time we dropped it.

The 12-ounce Ketiee Travel Mug is cheaper than most mugs we looked at, and we wondered what we’d get for the price. It kept drinks hot for about two hours during our tests, scoring near the bottom. Our main complaint is that the molding process left a pointy knob on our test unit, right above the drinking port, that pressed into our testers’ noses. Also, the product page states that it’s spill-proof—and we found that it wasn’t, whether the flip-top lid was open or closed.

The promise of the battery-powered Ember Travel Mug 2 is that it allows you to keep your beverage at a specific temperature (up to 145 degrees) for three hours—if you remember to charge it. Without the battery, it scored at the bottom on our insulation test; we also managed to break its inner seal during our drop test. Although we like the standard Ember Mug 2 (read more in our mug warmers guide ), we can’t recommend this even more expensive sibling.

The Contigo Autoseal West Loop Travel Mug was one of our previous runners-up, and like the Stanley Classic Trigger-Action , it has a button that you need to push before you can drink. The West Loop didn’t hold up as well in our drop tests as the Stanley model did, and we found its vertical push button harder to use than the one on our current also-great pick.

This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan.

Hongbin Bill Ma, director, Center of Thermal Management at the University of Missouri , phone interview , September 22, 2017

Michael Dickey, professor of chemical engineering at North Carolina State University , phone interview , September 26, 2017

Meet your guides

Trey French

Trey French is a staff writer at Wirecutter covering outdoors gear. A trail runner, backcountry skier, and long-distance backpacker, he has reviewed gear for Treeline Review and advised wilderness travelers on lightweight backcountry equipment at Katabatic Gear. He resides in California’s Eastern Sierra, where scenic desktop backgrounds are born.

Anna Perling

Anna Perling is a former staff writer covering kitchen gear at Wirecutter. During her time at Wirecutter, she reported on various topics including sports bras, board games, and light bulbs. Previously she wrote food and lifestyle pieces for Saveur and Kinfolk magazines. Anna is a mentor at Girls Write Now and a member of the Online News Association.

Further reading

This Inexpensive Water Bottle Is Meant for Cyclists, But It’s Great for Travelers, Too

by Christine Ryan

The Camelbak Podium is affordable, lightweight, and perfect for packing.

Our Favorite Mugs

by Jackie Reeve

Our Wirecutter home team is passionate about the vessels they drink them out of. Here are the mugs we can’t get enough of.

How to Clean a Travel Mug or Water Bottle

Don’t want your coffee to taste like yesterday’s brew? Give your travel mug a good deep clean—and do the same for your insulated water bottle, too!

We’ve Recommended This Travel Mug for a Decade. It’s Still Going Strong.

by James Austin

Our longtime favorite travel mug keeps drinks piping hot, and the nifty locking lid makes it virtually spill-proof.

Find anything you save across the site in your account

The Best Travel Coffee Mugs, Whether You Walk, Ride, or Drive

By Wilder Davies and Emily Farris

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

We take our recommendation for the best travel coffee mugs very seriously. The working world (ours anyway) runs on caffeine, and for many coffee drinkers, that need has to be satisfied on the go. So a good travel coffee mug—one that’s easy to hold, doesn't leak, and keeps hot coffee hot and iced coffee cold—is a must.

Zojirushi Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Mug

Brumate Nav

Yeti Rambler 10-Ounce Tumbler with Magslide Lid

To find the best travel mugs available right now, we tested more than 20 popular and top-rated options in a variety of shapes and sizes. Below, you’ll find our top picks for commuters of all kinds, followed by the details of how we tested and what we looked for. To learn the pros and cons of all the other mugs we tested, keep reading.

The best travel coffee mug to toss in your bag: Zojirushi

Of all the travel mugs we tested, there are only a few we’d feel comfortable tossing into a bag with our laptop or favorite book, and of them all, this one was the absolute best at keeping our coffee hot. After five hours the hot coffee we poured in was almost too hot to drink.

That excellent heat retention is due to the Zojirushi’s vacuum-insulated, double-walled stainless steel. Though it sounds like a beast, this travel mug is actually relatively lightweight and has a super-slim design that fits perfectly in your hand or bag. It also looks really nice, which is a definite plus for a mug you'll be carting around everywhere.

And you never have to worry about coffee spilling inside your bag or briefcase because the spout cap has a pretty serious sliding lock on the top that, when engaged, makes it impossible to open or spill. Shake, rattle, roll this thing—it's not going to leak any hot drinks on you or whatever else you’re carrying. The lid also comes apart for easy hand washing.

The Zojirushi travel tumbler isn’t dishwasher-safe, which is true of many vacuum-insulated vessels. This was the slimmest travel mug we tested (the opening of all three sizes is just 1⅝ inch) so if you want to clean it with friction, you’ll need a soft bottle bottle brush . That kind of cleaning shouldn’t be necessary often since the inside has a non-stick coating. We weren’t able to find any kind of documentation on what that coating actually is but it probably is nothing to worry about as the issues with nonstick cookware are around exposing it to direct, high heat or scratching it with metal utensils, neither of which are likely in a coffee cup. The super-slim design also means this mug may rattle around in a car cup holder, and the 20-ounce size is too tall to fit under our Nespresso VertuoPlus spout (you’d likely run into the same issue with other single-serve coffee makers ). Finally, sipping from the Zojirushi is slightly more awkward to drink from than many of the other mugs we tried, but it’s a small price to pay for such incredible heat retention and the peace of mind that comes with having a truly leak-free travel mug to use for hot drinks on the go.

Dishwasher safe: No Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes, very Sizes available: 12 ounces , 16 ounces , 20 ounces Warranty: 5 years

This price represents the 12-ounce size. Click through for more options.

The best dishwasher safe travel coffee mug to toss in your bag: Brumate

If you want a spill-proof, leak-proof travel mug that you can also stick in the dishwasher at the end of the day, we recommend the Brumate Nav. This tapered, tumbler-style mug is just as secure as the Zojirushi, though the “BevLock” lid uses a slider to lock a flip-top spout cover into place. And even when it’s not locked, this mug won’t leak; the lock just provides an extra layer of security in case the flip-top were to catch on something strong.

We accidentally turned our testing up to eleven one morning when we dropped this mug—full of piping hot coffee—while trying to shuffle small kids out the door. The lid was closed, but not locked, and we didn’t lose a single drop or burn any toddlers.

The insulated stainless steel body retains heat well (though not as well as the Zojirushi) and we appreciate that the BPA-free clear plastic lid allows us to look inside the cup.

The Brumate doesn’t retain heat nearly as well as the Zojirushi, but if you consume your coffee within an hour or two, it’s more than sufficient. The product description says it will keep hot drinks hot for three hours, but we only experience that kind of heat retention if the mug is full, and stays that way, for the entire three hours. We’d also love to see this mug in a 16-ounce size.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 12 ounces , 22 ounces , and 32 ounces   Warranty: Limited lifetime

This price represents the 22-ounce size. Click through for more options.

The best travel coffee mug for the car: Yeti Rambler with Magslide Lid

If you like to take your coffee in the car, you might not need a truly leak-proof mug. But you still need something to prevent sloshing and splashing when you inevitably encounter a pothole or other rough road. And, of course, a travel mug for the car must be able to keep your coffee hot even on brutally-cold mornings.

Yeti’s tumbler-style Rambler mug meets all of our requirements for a car-friendly coffee mug, and then some. The double-wall vacuum insulation keeps your drink hot for hours, the slim base fits comfortably in a car cup holder, and the Magslide spout cover is really easy to open with one hand while driving (it’s easiest if you slide it open while it’s still in the cup holder).

This mug is also incredibly easy to clean as all three parts are dishwasher safe. The little magnetic slider stays securely put until you pop it off from the underside of the lid.

Aside from the fact that it’s not leak-proof, there’s not much we don’t love about this mug. But some coffee drinkers may find the size options limiting. The 10-ounce is perfect for an 8-ounce pour-over, a small latte, or a couple shots of espresso, but the next size up is 20-ounces and that may feel too big if you just want to commute with a cup of coffee. We’d love to see this mug offered in a 14-ounce or 16-ounce size, too.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: No Sizes available: 10 ounces , 20 ounces , 30 ounces Warranty: 5 years

This price represents the 10-ounce size. Click through for more options.

How we tested travel coffee mugs

For weeks we conducted unofficial testing, adding these mugs to our regular coffee-vessel rotation. When it came time for the official testing, we filled all of the mugs with piping hot water and let them sit on our desks for five hours. We then sipped from each to determine if they had retained heat. Next, we put the containers through a stress test, shaking them and tipping them up and down to see if anything leaked. Finally, we took some brisk walks to mimic the frantic conditions of a morning commute, coffee mug in hand. We did not preheat the mugs by filling them with hot water first—we figured the typical user would not do this and we wanted to see how well each mug retained heat without this step.

What we looked for

Obviously, a travel mug needs to be spill-proof, but mugs that will travel in a bag also need to be completely leak proof. To test the seal on each mug, we filled them with hot coffee, closed the lids according to the manufacturer’s directions, and shook them vigorously while turned upside down.

One of the most important considerations was temperature retention, so we looked at how well the mug kept coffee hot over the course of a few hours. We lined up the mugs and tasted them side by side after five hours to see which one was the hottest.

If a mug was marketed as leak-proof, we looked at how hard or easy it was to engage its leak-free function. Mugs that are too hard to seal are more likely to malfunction when you’re running out the door in a hurry.

We didn't want a travel coffee mug that was too heavy or unwieldy, as this would make it more difficult to carry around while commuting. We also considered how much you had to maneuver your mouth while drinking.

If a mug wasn’t listed as dishwasher safe, we looked at how easy it was to get all parts—including the nooks and crannies of the lid—thoroughly clean with hand washing .

Yes, these mugs are utilitarian vessels meant for keeping hot beverages hot and cold beverages cold, but let’s not pretend looks don’t matter. These are accessories as much as they are tools.

Personal preference dictates what size coffee cup you’ll need, and if you make yourself an 8-ounce latte every morning, a 20-ounce travel mug is going to be too big. So we looked for mugs that offered a range of sizes—including mugs big enough for those who do like to chug 24 ounces of coffee on the way to work.

For car commuters, a base that’s too wide is a deal breaker. So we looked at whether or not these mugs were slim enough to fit into standard car cup holders.

Other travel coffee mugs we tested

We love this bigger Yeti Rambler mug for most of the reasons we loved our top pick for the car, and it even has a handle and a more leak-resistant (though not leak-proof) lid. But the smallest size is 20-ounces and it’s just big enough that it’s not guaranteed to fit in every car cup holder. Plus, unless you’re planning to hit the road with an entire French press-worth of coffee, a 20- or 30-ounce capacity is overkill for your morning commute.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Some Leakproof: No Sizes available: 20 ounces , 30 ounces

Yeti Rambler Travel Mug with Stronghold Lid

Yeti's most mug-shaped Rambler mug has the best size selection of all of the Rambler mugs and the two smaller sizes (10 ounces and 14 ounces) are stackable. But because it's mug-shaped, it won't fit in a car cup holder. And because it has the Magslider lid, it's not leak proof, either. While this one is generally good for camping, the handle is pretty basic and not very comfortable to hold—especially if the 24-ounce size is full of hot coffee.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: No Leakproof: No Sizes available: 10 ounces, 14 ounces, 24 ounces

Yeti Rambler 24-Ounce Mug

With the addition of the Hotshot lid, Yeti’s versatile, durable insulated Rambler water bottle becomes a (mostly) leak-proof travel mug for coffee, tea, and other hot or cold drinks. The Hotshot lid, when twisted to the open position, allows you to drink from any spot along the rim. We say it’s “mostly” leak-proof though, because if it’s not closed tightly enough, it is possible to shake some drops out of this mug when turned upside down—and we don’t love that it allows for that kind of user error. You can also buy the Hotshot cap separately , which is a great way to get even more out of a Yeti Rambler bottle you already own. Well, as long as you make sure to close it really well.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Most Leakproof: Mostly Sizes available: 12 ounces , 18 ounces

Yeti Rambler with Hotshot Cap

Brumate haș a series of leak-proof coffee mugs with handles called Toddy and these mugs have nearly all the same features we love about the Nav. But the reasonably-sized option ( 16 ounces ) is too wide to fit into any cupholder. The two larger sizes ( 22 ounces and 32 ounces ) have tapered bottoms and actually do fit into many cup holders, but most coffee drinkers will find they're otherwise just too big, in general.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Some sizes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 6 ounces , 22 ounces , 32 ounces

Brumate Toddy

Klean Kanteen is best known for its lightweight stainless steel reusable water bottles (and for tripping up our spell check every damn time) but the brand also makes a very nice double-wall, vacuum-insulated stainless steel travel tumbler. In fact, it’s so nice it’s almost perfect. This mug has excellent heat retention, and the powder-coated body is durable, dishwasher safe, and covered by Klean Kanteen’s lifetime warranty. The tumbler’s wide mouth (wide for Klean Kanteen, anyway) is big enough to fit most ice cubes, and the bottle itself is slender enough to fit most cup holders. Unfortunately, you need to use two hands to open the leak-proof lid, which isn’t always conducive to drinking hot coffee while on the go.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 12 ounces , 16 ounces , 20 ounces

Klean Kanteen Wide Vacuum Insulated Water Bottle

Klean Kanteen

We’re generally big fans of Oxo gear but the Oxo Good Grips travel mug we previously tested always leaked a little when tipped upside down. In 2023, we tested a newer model, which has what the brand calls a leak-proof “SimplyClean” lid. The mug comes in an array of pretty colors, all of the parts are dishwasher safe, and we found the lid to be truly leak free when properly assembled. However, the engineering required to get such a good seal is… a lot. Disassembling the lid for cleaning and reassembling it are each three-step processes—and the steps are so unintuitive that instructions, arrows, and numbers are actually embossed in various spots all over the three separate lid components (four if you count the removable gasket). After a few tries, it’s pretty easy to get used to how it all goes together, but coming from a brand that makes such user-friendly products, this leak-proof lid is more complicated than it needs to be. It’s also a little too easy to accidentally remove the entire lid when trying to open the spout.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 16 ounces , 20 ounces

OXO Good Grips Travel Coffee Mug With Leakproof SimplyClean Lid

We like that the short Hydro Flask coffee mug feels like a traditional mug, and this is the only “travel” mug we tested that comes in a 6-ounce size. Like all of Hydro Flask’s insulated products, this mug has great temperature retention and it’s also very durable thanks to solid construction. But because it doesn’t have a leak-proof lid or fit into a car cup holder, it’s definitely more of a “coffee on the front porch” mug or “hot toddy around the campfire” mug than an actual commuting mug. Another drawback? Unlike the brand’s powder-coated water bottles, Hydro Flask mugs are not powder-coated and therefore are not dishwasher safe .

Dishwasher safe: No Fits in car cup holder : No  Leakproof: No Sizes available: 6 ounces , 12 ounces , 24 ounces

Hydro Flask Mug

This 16-ounce stainless steel vacuum-insulated travel mug from Thermos is good, and most people would probably be content using it, but there's also nothing remarkable about it. It didn't keep our coffee hot nearly as long as the Zojirushi and though it has a leak-proof lid, it doesn't lock like the Brumate does. It’s also only available in one size (16 ounces). That said, the underside of the lid does have a built-in hook for tea bags and loose-leaf tea infusers, so if you're a tea drinker who likes to take your hot tea on the go, you’ll like that feature.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder : Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 16 ounces

Thermos Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Travel Tumbler

When we first tested the Fellow Carter mug, we tried the Move model —a gorgeous ceramic-lined thermal mug that does a great job of keeping hot drinks hot. Unfortunately, the twist-off lid required the use of both hands, which kept the Fellow Carter from taking a top spot. When we retested travel mugs in 2023, we were thrilled to find that Fellow had recently released a new model of the Carter mug with a slide-lock lid (the lid can also be purchased separately if you already own a Carter mug). The smooth sliding mechanism makes it easy to open and close the angled lid with one hand, and though it doesn’t actually lock like the Zojirushi does, it is leak-proof when closed. But the angle of the new lid means our testers’ noses got smashed up against it every time we took a drink, and because of a lip around the inside of the body, it’s hard to get every last drop of coffee out of this mug. Additionally, the ceramic-coated stainless steel interior is supposed to keep this mug from holding onto smells, but we found that after just one use, it was nearly impossible to get the coffee smell out the lid —so this isn’t a tumbler we’d want to use interchangeably as a coffee cup and a water cup.

Dishwasher safe: No Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 12 ounces, 16 ounces

Fellow Carter Slide Travel Coffee Mug

We wanted to love this beautiful powder-coated stainless steel tumbler from Kinto, a Japanese housewares brand. And for the most part, we did. The carry handle on the smartly-constructed top can be removed, revealing a thin circular opening that ensures controlled sipping. Liquid doesn’t pour out too quickly (no scalded tongue or ice cubes in the face) and when tightly sealed, it doesn’t leak. You can also remove the entire top of the mug, which makes pouring easy and makes the travel mug easy to clean. However, it’s impossible to open this mug one-handed. That, combined with its high price tag, kept it out of our top picks.

Dishwasher safe: No Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 17 ounces

Kinto Day Off Stainless Steel Tumbler

The MiiR Insulated Travel Tumbler got a lot of oohs and aahs during the unboxing phase of our test. It's sleek, bright, and incredibly comfortable to hold. And when you buy a mug, the brand gifts a portion of revenue to a charity project that's trackable via a code on the bottom of the mug. Hot drinks stay piping hot in this mug, thanks to what the brand calls “Thermo 3D Double Wall Vacuum Insulation Technology.” The locking flip lid is super-secure, too. Unfortunately, the way it’s designed makes it impossible to get the lid completely out of the way when drinking, which resulted in little spots of coffee on our testers’ noses with every single sip.

Dishwasher safe: No Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 12 ounces

MiiR Insulated Travel Tumbler

S’well’s water bottles have a cult-like following so we were excited to try the brand’s sleek and simple vacuum-insulated travel tumbler. ​​It did a good job keeping our coffee warm for a couple hours, but it wasn’t noticeably better than most of the other mugs we tried. The stainless-steel and BPA-free plastic lid is actually leak-proof thanks to an airtight flip-top spout cover. However, it flips easily enough we’d be worried about it catching on something in a bag and opening up by accident. Also, as with the Miir above, our testers’ noses got pressed into the piece that flips back while drinking—especially as we got toward the bottom of our hot and cold drinks. This design flaw is less annoying on this mug than it is on the Miir, but it’s annoying nonetheless.

Dishwasher safe: No Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 16 oz

Sip by Swell Stainless Steel Travel Mug

We can't help but love this vintage-inspired Stanley travel tumbler—but definitely not for coffee. It does a good job of keeping hot drinks hot, but after weeks of testing, we will only ever use it for ice water because following every single sip, a significant amount of whatever liquid is inside accumulates on the top of the supposedly leak-proof trigger-activated spout cover. When that liquid is coffee, you risk leaving little coffee stains everywhere you go. The slim design is really nice to hold and this tumbler fits in every cup holder we tried, but it’s kind of annoying to have to hold down the trigger the entire time you’re drinking.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: No Sizes available: 16 ounces , 20 ounces

Stanley Classic One Hand Vacuum Mug

Ace Hardware

This vacuum-insulated stainless steel travel mug from Ello looks like the kind of old-school speckled enamelware you'd find in your grandparents' house (that’s a good thing). More importantly, it holds heat well and doesn’t leak, though we wouldn’t want to toss it into a bag with any electronics or white clothes. It’s slender enough to fit in some (but not all) car cup holders—and unlike most of the insulated travel tumblers we tested, it has a handle. Technically, this mug is dishwasher safe, but the brand recommends hand-washing, and we’d want to do that anyway since the inside of the handle is lined with cork. There’s also no way to clean with friction under the sliding spout cover. Still, for less than $20, this mug is a good budget pick, especially if you want a cute, leak-proof insulated mug with a handle. But price is often indicative of quality, and while we have yet to encounter any problems, customer reviews indicate issues with long-term durability, and upon closer inspection, we realized we could probably snap off the handle with very little effort. (Intentional damage would not be covered by Ello’s limited lifetime warranty , but accidental breakage might be.) If you want something that will hold up to everyday use, consider investing in something that’s more solidly constructed.

Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack only, hand wash recommended) Fits in car cup holder: Maybe Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 18 ounces

Ello Campy Vacuum Insulated Travel Mug

Like the Ello Campy (above), the Ello Cole is a budget-friendly, vacuum-insulated, stainless steel tumbler with a leak-proof sliding spout cover. It holds heat well and all of the parts are top-rack dishwasher safe, though hand-washing the body is recommended. The Cole also has a cork accent, though on this mug, it’s a “built-in coaster,” which seems rather pointless since a well-insulated mug shouldn’t sweat. While we enjoyed testing this mug, we also worry about long-term durability after reading customer reviews—and the fact that there’s no way to deep clean under the slider lid is concerning, too.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 16 ounces

Ello Cole Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle

The West Loop mug with Contigo’s leak-proof Autoseal lid is very leak-proof, thanks to a lock switch on the top. But even after unlocking the sip lid, you still have to push pretty hard on the autoseal button on the side of the lid to open it enough to get a good swig. In theory, it’s a good system, but when you just want to take a drink of coffee, it’s pretty annoying, especially because the button isn’t very responsive; it often feels like you’re not pushing it hard enough. We also had a really hard time getting the coffee smell out of the lid, even after just one use.

Dishwasher safe: Lid only, top rack Fits in car cup holder: Most Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 16 ounces , 20 ounces , 24 ounces

Contigo Stainless Steel Vacuum-Insulated Travel Mug

The Contigo Autoseal Transit Mug has some nice features that set it apart from the West Loop. There’s a permanently-affixed non-slip silicone textured sleeve and a silicone pad on the bottom, too. But it has Contigo’s Autoseal lid, and though the Transit mug’s push-button mechanism is slightly different from the lid on West Loop (and locks and unlocks by twisting the lid), it’s equally annoying to have to hold down a button as you drink.

Dishwasher safe: Lid only, top rack Fits in car cup holder: Most Leakproof: Yes Sizes available: 16 ounces

Contigo Autoseal Transit Stainless Steel Travel Mug

Our testers were divided on this collapsible silicone travel “mug.” It’s really more of a coffee cup to travel with than an actual travel mug, as it’s not insulated and the flip-top lid is more leak-resistant than leak-proof. But if you want something that takes up very little space when not in use, this is a decent option. Simply push down the cup from the top and it becomes about the size of a can of tuna. It also comes in lots of pretty colors and all of the parts are super easy to clean in the dishwasher. On the other hand, keeping track of all those parts (especially the support ring) can be kind of annoying.

Dishwasher safe: Yes Fits in car cup holder: Yes Leakproof: No Sizes available: 12 ounces , 16 ounces , 24 ounces

Stojo Collapsible Travel Cup With Straw

The takeaway

If you want a travel mug that will keep your coffee piping hot (or your cold brew cold) for hours, the Zojirushi stainless steel mug has the best heat retention capabilities of any mug we tested. It’s also completely leak-proof so you can toss it in your bag without worry. The Brumate Nav , while not as great at retaining heat as the Zojirushi, has an equally-secure lid and the added benefit of being dishwasher-safe. For car commuters, we recommend the tumbler-style Yeti Rambler with the Magslide lid . Though not leak-proof, this dishwasher-safe, vacuum-insulated mug is pretty great at preventing spills while also keeping your morning coffee easily accessible—even while you keep your eyes on the road.

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Desperate Vladimir Putin plunges 22 million Russians into darkness in bitter -22C winter

Moscow is to be plunged into darkness as putin ordered rolling blackouts amid freezing temperatures, according to reports..

By  TIM MCNULTY

07:54, Sun, Jan 14, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:39, Sun, Jan 14, 2024

Moscow to have ‘rolling electricity blackouts’ (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin has reportedly ordered rolling energy blackouts across Moscow as temperatures reach – 22C. The blackouts are said to cover the entire Moscow metropolitan area which has a total population of around 22 million. The order issued states that electricity is “not to exceed 12 hours per day” with the blackouts in place from January 14 through March 31 2024, according to  Ukraine  commentator Igor Sushko.

Sushko posted on X: “The entire Moscow metropolitan area, population 22 million, will have rolling blackouts of electricity “not to exceed 12 hours per day” from January 14 through March 31, 2024. – announced by the fascist state.”

It comes after a heating main ruptured at the Klimovsk Specialised Ammunition Plant in Podolsk, about 30 miles south of central Moscow, on January 4. As a result, tens of thousands of Russians are said to be without heat in their homes in the Moscow region due to subzero temperatures.

According to a map published by a Russian Telegram channel and circulated on various social media platforms, the affected areas include cities such as Khimki, Balashikha, Lobnya, Lyubertsy, Podolsk, Chekhov, Naro-Fominsk, and Podolsk.

Residents in Moscow, specifically Balashikha, Elektrostal, Solnechnogorsk, Dmitrov, Domodedovo, Troitsk, Taldom, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Krasnogorsk, Pushkino, Ramenskoye, Voskresensk, Losino-Petrovsky, and Selyatino, are also experiencing power outages, according to other Russian media reports.

Power outages have been reported in St. Petersburg, Rostov, Volgograd, Voronezh, and Primorsky. Meanwhile, a huge fire t ore through a large warehouse  used by  Russia ’s largest online retailer south of St Petersburg on Saturday morning.

The blaze covered an area of 70,000 square meters, with 50,000 square meters of the Wildberries warehouse collapsing, according to  Russia ’s Emergency Situations Ministry. No casualties were reported.

Videos posted to social media appeared to show employees running down fire escapes and fleeing the scene. A video shot from a passenger jet flying nearby showed flames totally engulfing the warehouse, sending huge plumes of smoke into the sky.

(C)EXPRESS.CO.UK 2024

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Putin: We can better destroy our own grid ourselves…………………………………………………

And the hoarde just follows like blind idiots.

Vote for putler. He will cut your electricity bills for you.

12 hour a day blackouts for 10 weeks? Of course it will be back to normal a few days before the fake election. Perhaps we should send some drones to the north east and give them some of their own medicine….

What wonderful news. How many warmonger morons that are freezing their asses off and sitting in the dark are still for war? Instead of fixing the broken country, the idiots wage an expensive war.

You can bet your life that the area the siloviki live won’t suffer any power cuts.

Of course, not.

They still have warm feelings about killing Ukrainians and stealing their children. That should hold them over…..

they could always go to the front if they’re cold, it gets a bit hot there with the occasional blinding flash of light.

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