My daily coffee routine goes something like this: I arrive at the office, drop my bag next to my desk, grab my mug, and head to the kitchen. I fill it to the brim with the delicious Stumptown brews WIRED provides and bring it back to my desk. Then begins a careful countdown: I have to wait a few minutes for the joe to cool, then drink it as fast as possible before it gets cold. I usually fail, and end up tossing (or begrudgingly chugging) about a third of my mug's contents when I head back for a refill. Rinse and repeat, too many times a day.
Over the last couple of weeks, the Ember Ceramic Mug[1] has changed all of this. The mug keeps 10 ounces of coffee at whatever temperature you want, for as long as you want. You choose the exact temperature in Ember's companion app, or pick from a preset.
Is spending $80 on a mug a ridiculous indulgence, much like $14 avocado toast and those super-expensive candles that supposedly smell like your hometown? Yes. It's also wonderful. See, every beverage has an ideal temperature for consumption. For coffee, science says[2] it's 136 degrees. (Ember defaults to 135, which I guess is a neater number.) It's hot without scalding, and leaves enough room for you to taste the flavors of the coffee rather than simply broiling your taste buds. Ember keeps my coffee exactly right, for hours on end.
ember
The Ceramic Mug is Ember's second product, after its $150 travel mug[3]. That one has a tiny, integrated screen to display the temperature, which you can control on the mug itself by twisting the bottom. But it only holds...