Red Bull, Ramen, and take-out food might get all the press, but coffee is the fuel that runs a law student. There’s probably more than a few Starbucks franchises that are either being kept afloat or raking in the cash because of their proximity to a law school. Yes, they’re great as a study destination, but the coffee itself is important too. But instead of overpaying for someone else to make the coffee for you, every law school should learn to brew their own. Not only is it substantially cheaper, but you can get better coffee and coffee more tailored to your personal tastes. Maybe you won’t buy and learn how to use an espresso machine or a French press, but anyone can get a good drip machine, use good beans, filter their water, keep the machine clean, and make a good cup of coffee.
But you need something to carry it to law school in. Most options involve some sort of insulated metal thermos. The problem with that is the metal will very quickly start absorbing the favors of what you put into the travel mug. Without rigorous painstaking cleanings, you eventually get a slightly metallic hot “beverage,” rather than the very good coffee you brewed.
The solution then is to get a ceramic travel mug, made of roughly the same material as your normal coffee mug. I Am Not A Paper Cup is one of the canonical examples. The IANAPC looks, especially from across a room, like your typical paper coffee cup. But in reality, it’s a double-walled insulating ceramic travel mug.
Because it’s ceramic, it doesn’t add or absorb any flavor. The silicone lid will give a little bit of a rubbery tinge, but the slightly bizarre cleaning instructions are very effective: boil the lid with lemon wedges then scrub it down with toothpaste. Presto, almost no flavor.
The cup is good for travel. I wish it was a little big wider, as it rattles around in my cupholder and I’m tempted to hold it as I drive, but then again if I get a new car with smaller cupholders, it will fit perfectly. The cup did not leak in transit or while drinking.
There are three major beefs you see in reviews of the IANAPC, and I’ll give each some credibility. First, it appears that about 10% of the cups leak. I know from Day 1 if a travel mug is going to leak or not. It’s a total crapshoot. Test it with water and try to send it back for another. Second, some have complained it doesn’t insulate well. It’s not a thermos, but it insulates better than, well, a disposable cup. Third, the cup is fairly small. It appears to be a large or Venti on the outside, but the volume is more like a tall, about 8-10 oz. That’s less than the standard 12-16 you normally see in travel mugs.
But this isn’t an everyday travel mug. It’s for serious coffee drinkers who want to enjoy serious coffee away from their coffee maker. Where the IANAPC excels is in getting coffee from point A to point B without spilling, and then transitioning into a standard coffee mug, sans handle. And if you prefer one cup of very good, very strong coffee to the slow drip of burnt swill, the IANAPC is a good choice.
Photo by Ballistik Coffee Boy
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I use a ceramic mug myself or a french press cup. Absolutely feel coffee is the lifeblood of law school.
I really enjoyed “Guy who felt at home enough at law school to carry around a regular coffee cup”. He was my hero.