Review of Gevalia Handled Travel Mug

Coffee is like my drug. If I don't start my day with a nice hot cup of Joe (4 creams, 4 sugars) I cannot function correctly. I'm crabby, and no one really likes being in my presence, when I haven't had my caffeine high for the day.

I guess my friends caught on, and this is why I'm now the owner to the Gevalia Handheld Travel Mug.
This travel mug came as a gevalia cafe set a friend sent to me in the mail for Christmas, so I'm unaware of the price. But because of the 'name brand' I'm sure it could range from $15 to $20 for the stupid thing.

When I recieved the gift pack (which came with packets of Gevalia coffee), the coffee got placed in the kitchen cabinet, and the mug tossed aside in a bag of unwanted gifts, that I could use for possible re-gifting.

However, about a week ago I decided that using it might save me some money. (In my office we have to buy our own foam cups if we want to make coffee)

So instead of buying cups every week, I figured my Gevalia Travel Mug might be a good investment.
So with me everyday to work traveled my little 16oz. buddy 'big blue'. There are other colors available as well; red, metallic green, metallic blue or yellow.


Quality:
 
The Travel Mug has dual wall insulation, so whatever you put inside, stays hot or cold for quite some time.

It's also the perfect size to fit inside of your car cup holder. A spill proof cover, and a handle. What more could you ask out of a mug? The mug itself is relatively thick, so dropping it would not crack it...unless you slammed it to the concrete, then maybe.
 
Before I go on, let me tell you this, there are no safety features.
 
Funny you may be thinking why would anyone need safety features on a mug!?
Well heres why I feel travel mugs should have safety features, or at least a warning:

-Do not sip from this mug, the coffee comes rushing out from a sip hole that is far too wide for a human mouth.

'whats that mean?' you ask.

It means that every time you tilt this cup up to your mouth, the large sip hole allows coffee to flow not only into your mouth, but down your cheeks as well; eventually making its way down your shirt; and well, that's just a big hot mess, now isn't it!?
 
Not only that, but the sip hole is about a half an inch deep into the cup lid, so your lips are UP HERE on the lid, and the hole, is DOWN THERE a half an inch away from your mouth, which has burning messy results.

-You have to have good aim to get the coffee into your mouth; or a really wide mouth. Perhaps Aerosmiths (Steve Tyler) wouldn't have an issue with it though. So unless you're not equipped with a mouth like Steve Tylers', this mug isn't for you.

Because of this awful sip design, I always just remove the lid when I want to drink from it. By doing so, this renders the mug of its name. 'Travel'. Now my Gevalia Travel Mug, is nothing more than a long shiny blue standard mug. I could forget about stealing a sip on the road.

Either way, lid or no lid, the liquid is going to go all over the place.
 
The downfall though about not keeping the lid on is an obvious one. Hot liquid cools off at a much faster rate.

The mug also claims to be spill proof/leak proof. Me with my mild OCD had to check this feature out. I've honestly never found a leak proof travel mug, and I didn't have high hopes for this cheesy metallic blue mug.

So I tipped the mug over on my desk. The liquid inside didn't come rushing out like some mugs do, instead it sort of trickled out very slowly.

However, if the mug is tipped, and you pick it up quickly, you may only have a little drip or two, on your desk. Nothing a quick tongue swipe to your desk couldn't take care of.

I'm not blaming Gevalia for this, I mean they are only copying the sip design from other travel mugs. All of which need a new design in my opinion.

Would I recommend this mug to a friend. Nope. But it would make a good joke mug. That's what it seems to be anyways. A good joke. It's really funny watching your friends get (As Kelso on that 70's show would say) "burned"