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21 hours ago
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Single-use takeaway cups belong with throwaway supermarket carrier bags in the landfill of history. Usually made from plastic-coated paper, the billions used each year burn through copious amounts of energy and water, while also contributing significantly to landfill.
The solution is simple: switch to a reusable coffee cup. These take various forms, such as cups, bottles and mugs, but are more eco-friendly options once used multiple times. There are leakproof travel mugs that can sit in a rucksack pocket; small ones ideally suited to car cup holders; and ones made from recycled post-consumer materials.
Two different terms are used for this type of product: travel mugs and reusable coffee cups. Travel mugs are usually better suited for transporting coffee from place to place, whereas reusable coffee cups are often just something to sip from wherever you get a coffee. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and you should always check the product specifications to ensure you’re getting the right mug for your purposes. Some coffee chains now incentivise the use of these cups through discounts and reward schemes, too.
It may seem obvious, but one of the best things about these travel mugs is that you can fill them at home before going out, so the coffee machine collecting dust on your counter might finally get some more use, too. To help you find your sip-friendly sidekick, I tested 10 cups from brands including KeepCup, Yeti, Ocean Bottle, Circular&Co and Chilly’s.
A note of caution from a guy with a singed tongue: some of the cups and bottles featured are excellent at keeping your coffee or tea hot. That’s mostly beneficial, but you should check whether your drink has cooled before taking a hearty sip, which may require leaving the lid off for a few minutes.
At a glance
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Best travel mug overall:
KeepCup Commuter
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Best budget travel mug:
Yeti the Rambler
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Best leakproof travel mug:
Stanley The AeroLight transit mug
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Best travel mug for taste:
Ocean Bottle stainless steel tumbler
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Best sustainable travel mug:
Circular&Co Reusable Cup
Why you should trust me
As a regular reviewer for the Filter, I’m well versed in testing products. You may have spotted my guide to the best suitcases, which culminated in me throwing the unfortunate baggage off a stepladder, or my feature on sunrise alarm clocks, where I played the role of sleep-testing guinea pig. I’ve been writing about consumer products for the past decade, and I still take joy in getting to grips with interesting, useful things.
I’m also into my coffee, and I care about how the material and form of a vessel affect a drink. I always carry a reusable cup on days out or while working on the go, so my thoughts on these products are rooted in the daily grind.
How I tested
I used each model several times while travelling and working. I filled them with coffee at home for my first caffeine hit of the day, before having them refilled at various coffee shops, where I asked baristas for their feedback. Throughout testing, I considered how securely the cups held liquid, how pleasant they were to handle and drink from, and how well they maintained the temperature of hot and cold drinks.
On the first point, for more rigorous assessment, I held the cups upside down and shook them over kitchen paper to see how much they dripped; I also bounced on a trampette with them (first with the lid closed, then with it open) to test the degree to which they were leakproof. Finally, I filled them with boiling water and measured the temperature over eight hours to gauge the effectiveness of the insulation.
Not all reusable cups are intended to provide the same qualities (eg leak-proofing or insulation), and I kept this in mind while writing the reviews. During the process, I drank dozens of hot drinks, preventing the use of a stack of disposable cups and ensuring a pleasantly caffeinated state throughout.
Mugs that were not requested back by the manufacturer were donated for fundraising to the Leeds branch of Cat Action Trust 1977, a small national charity dedicated to the welfare of feral cats – two of whom are living in a catio on my drive.
My favourite travel mugs and reusable coffee cups
Best travel mug overall:
KeepCup Commuter
Widely credited as the originator of the reusable coffee cup, KeepCup remains the best in the business. This Commuter model is advertised as “barista standard”, and it certainly proved a cut above during my tests.
Why we love it
I was impressed by its temperature regulation. It kept hot drinks hot for several hours, and cold water refreshingly cool while out and about. Removing the broad lid will quickly bring down the temperature of the cup’s contents, though, so your coffee will be sippable before you know it.
The flip lid is a well-known KeepCup feature, providing a secure closure that couldn’t be simpler to suss out. Do take care to screw it on properly, though.
“This mug will fit under the group head on an espresso machine, so saves us from using another vessel to prepare the coffee before pouring it into the reusable cup,” said Scarlet, barista at Holding Patterns listening bar in Leeds.
Hand-washing is recommended to preserve the mug’s finish. Thankfully, reaching inside with a soapy sponge didn’t prove a chore. The Commuter is sold as “spill proof” rather than leakproof, but it performed well during my bounce and drip test.
It’s a shame that … this mug may be too wide for some cup holders and backpack pockets.
Capacity: 340ml
Material: silicone, electropolished steel, polypropylene
Dimensions: 8.6 x 12.7cm
Temperature after one hour: 74.4C
Temperature after eight hours: 34.1C
Weight: 218g
Dishwasher safe? Hand-washing recommended to preserve finish
Warranty/guarantee: 12 months
Best budget travel mug:
Yeti the Rambler
Isn’t this a fine little thing? I found the Rambler ideal for small drinks such as espressos, short blacks and cordials on the go – and while it’s not marketed as an insulated model, it proved effective at keeping drinks suitably hot or cold.
Why we love it
Perhaps the best trait of this cup is its portability. It’s small and narrows towards the base, which makes it handy for rucksack pockets or car cup holders. Thanks to the ridge about halfway up, it’s convenient to carry by hand, too.
I was impressed with the Rambler’s chunky Magslider closure, which makes it easy to open or seal the aperture on the splashproof (note: not leakproof) lid. In my bounce test, it didn’t leak whatsoever when the lid was closed, but it did spray out coffee with the lid open. Just remember to close it before running to catch a bus. This mug’s vibrant colourways are just my cup of tea, too – especially the Rescue Red.
“It’s a convenient size, but it would’ve been helpful to have a mark inside the cup to show the right fill level,” said Saeed Hussain, owner of Cravings By Sid in Calverley. “You might be best off handing it to the barista with the lid, so they can see how high to fill it.”
It’s a shame that … rinsing suds out from under the lid is slightly tricky, as some of the dish water gets under the slider.
Capacity: 236ml
Material: stainless steel and plastic
Dimensions: 7.2 x 10.5cm
Temperature after one hour: 74.1C
Temperature after eight hours: 34.9C
Weight: 200g
Dishwasher safe? Yes
Warranty/guarantee: five years
Best leakproof travel mug:
Stanley AeroLight transit mug
The aptly named AeroLight feels dainty. The lid seal is secure, barely allowing any steam through, even when opened for drinking. In normal use and temperature testing, it proved effective at keeping things hot. On opening, this bottle sometimes greeted me with a tiny spray of coffee, but that’s a small price to pay for its tight closure.
Why we love it
This was the model I trusted most to stay sealed inside my bag – and, as expected, it didn’t leak. I bounced on the trampette with it, shook it upside down, threw it over my head – and not a drop was spilled. Note that Stanley advises that users fill the AeroLight no higher than 7mm from the threads of the lid.
The narrow, fairly tall profile of the AeroLight is ideal for backpack side pockets and slimline cup holders, although it also means its capacity may be lower than you expect. The barista who served me at an excellent King’s Cross coffee kiosk was utterly bemused when I asked her what she thought of the bottle. I’ll take this as a sign that it’s easy to fill up.
The AeroLight is dishwasher safe and comes with a lifetime guarantee.
It’s a shame that … the insulation of this bottle may be too great, if anything. I had to leave the lid off for quite some time to bring coffee down to a drinkable temperature.
Capacity: 350ml
Material: stainless steel and plastic
Dimensions: 6.9 x 16.3cm
Temperature after one hour: 83.8C
Temperature after eight hours: 49.3C
Weight: 180g
Dishwasher safe? Yes
Warranty/guarantee: lifetime
Best travel mug for taste:
Ocean Bottle tumbler
Made from 90% recycled stainless steel (as well as BPA-free plastic and silicone), this cup provided a brilliantly pure coffee-drinking experience.
Why we love it
Paper takeaway cups can often lend an unwanted flavour to a drink as their material begins to break down, but there’s no such issue here. Plus, its lip feels pleasantly thin and not at all sharp.
Taking apart the tumbler for cleaning is simple enough, although the rubbery lid seal needed a little persuasion. Fully disassembled, the mug is easy to clean, with hardly any awkward areas that could harbour grime. While the tumbler isn’t intended as an insulating flask, it kept coffee hot for more than two-and-a-half hours. It also performed well during my trampette test, with just a little splashing when I opened the lid slider.
According to the barista at a local coffee chain, it was perfectly easy to refill.
It’s a shame that … as tends to be the case with tumblers, this model isn’t fully leakproof, nor is it designed to be held upside down.
Capacity: 350ml
Material: recycled stainless steel, BPA-free plastic, silicone
Dimensions: 8.2 × 13.7cm
Temperature after one hour: 76.4C
Temperature after eight hours: 35.8C
Weight: 230g
Dishwasher safe? Yes (eco-wash)
Warranty/guarantee: 10 years
Best sustainable travel mug:
Circular&Co reusable coffee cup
This remarkable reusable cup from Circular&Co is a true example of circular production, with an outer layer made from a polymer-recycled coffee blend. The material has a distinctive look and feel: smooth, shiny, Americano-brown and similar, but uncannily a little different, to plastic.
Why we love it
From a design perspective, the clever thing about this cup is its lid. It has two indents for your fingers, and you press these down to unlock and open the 360-degree aperture so that drink can flow through. It works brilliantly and, although I thought the lid might be fiddly to clean, it’s easy enough to do if you lever off the top part using a cutlery handle. I’d recommend reading the instruction booklet to avoid mishaps, however.
The cup was pleasant to drink from, kept its contents very hot and had no adverse effects on the flavour. Seb Wilkey, head barista at Holding Patterns in Leeds, was enthusiastic about the cup.
“It’s a little too tall to fit under the group head on our coffee machine, but we can work around that and it was easy to use in general,” he told me. “More people should be using reusable coffee cups. When I lived in Sydney, everyone had one.”
It’s a shame that … although it didn’t leak during normal use (or bounce testing), a few drops spilled out when I held this cup upside down and shook it.
Capacity: 340ml
Material: recycled coffee waste and plastic
Dimensions: 8.4 x 16.6cm
Temperature after one hour: 61.8C
Temperature after eight hours: 26.9C
Weight: 200g
Dishwasher safe? Yes
Warranty/guarantee: two years
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The best of the rest
Chilly’s Big Mouth
Best for: a family-size reusable bottle
Family-size flask meets trendy reusable bottle in the Chilly’s Big Mouth, new for 2025. It has plenty of space for everyone’s tea, coffee or water on a group trip, and it serves equally well as a daylong sipping solution for the chronically hydrated.
The rim of the bottle is pretty deep, and I found I had to drink from it carefully to avoid a drenching. Personally, I’m OK with that, but dainty sippers might prefer to decant their drink into a cup.
This bottle’s lid felt very secure and I was confident enough to carry it, filled, in my bag. But given how good the Big Mouth looks, vibrant and pleasantly textured, proud owners might prefer to tote it by the handle instead. It performed exceptionally well in my bounce, drip and temperature tests.
It didn’t make the final cut because … most people will need something smaller for on-the-go coffees.
Capacity: 2l; material: 90% post-consumer certified recycled stainless steel, plastic, rubber base; dimensions: 13.5 x 26.5cm; temperature after one hour: 88.8C; temperature after eight hours: 65.4C; weight: 862g; dishwasher safe? No; warranty/guarantee: two years
Ninja Sip Perfect travel mug
Best for: daylong use
Ninja’s mug was one of the top performers in my drip, bounce and temperature tests. If you’re looking for a large, leakproof option to fill at home and drink from throughout the day, this would be a fine choice.
Drinking through the lid is very simple – you pop down the seal and then sip through the opening, which allows just the right flow for my taste. I often find Ninja’s products intuitive and well designed, and that’s certainly true of this bottle.
I wouldn’t recommend drinking without the lid while on transport (especially with a driver who tends to slam on the brakes) as the metal is thin.
Baristas Ivy and Theo at Flamingos Coffee House in Leeds were happy to use the Sip Perfect, but they had some reservations. “It’s too tall for our machine, so I had to pour the coffee into a mug first,” said Ivy.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s not quite a match for our top picks in terms of portability. However, you might feel that the higher capacity justifies the added heft.
Capacity: 400ml; material: stainless steel, BPA-free plastic; dimensions: 7.7 x 22.7cm; temperature after one hour: 62.2C; temperature after eight hours: 47.4C; weight: 573g; dishwasher safe? Yes, but hand-washing is recommended to preserve the finish; warranty/guarantee: five years
Ocean Bottle Brew flask
Best for: an eco-friendly bottle
This is a very useful little bottle to have in your collection. It’s perfectly leakproof (even when you take it on a trampoline), insulates hot or cold liquids very well, and slots neatly into a backpack pocket or cup holder.
Perhaps its most important role is its environmental impact: maker Ocean Bottle funds the collection of the equivalent of 1,000 ocean-bound plastic bottles with each one bought.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the lid doesn’t allow enough liquid through at once for a really satisfying sip. I also needed a few tries to learn when the lid is properly sealed. Make sure you figure this out before taking the flask on your travels.
Capacity: 350ml; material: recycled stainless steel, BPA-free plastic, silicone; dimensions: 6.8 x 16.8cm; temperature after one hour: 81.8C; temperature after eight hours: 47.1C; weight: 226g; dishwasher safe? Yes; warranty/guarantee: 10 years
Klean Kanteen Rise mug
Best for: camping
The inside of the Rise mug is a lovely brushed steel, canteen-like and an excellent material for heat retention.
I found it one of the easiest reusable cups to clean. It’s wide enough to reach inside effortlessly with a sponge, and the lid has a simple design that should minimise grime buildup.
Whereas most reusable cups probably won’t get used much at home, this one’s so pleasant to drink from with or without the lid that you might reach for it when in need of a homely cuppa.
It’s worth noting that the Rise mug is not leakproof – as I discovered when I tipped it upside down for a drip test. However, the lid seal holds up well when you’re using the cup sensibly.
Cravings By Sid’s Hussain only had good things to say about this mug. “I loved it – I’m tempted to get one for myself,” he said, after filling the mug with a large iced coffee.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s too wide to fit conveniently inside most rucksack pockets. The handle is ideal for looping on to the strap of a hiking backpack or bikepacking pannier bag, however.
Capacity: 399ml; material: 90% post-consumer recycled steel, BPA-free plastic; dimensions: 9.7 x 9.9cm; temperature after one hour: 76.5C; temperature after eight hours: 32.5C; weight: 309g; dishwasher safe? Yes; warranty/guarantee: lifetime limited warranty
Ecoffee Cup
Best for: affordability
Its stubby form makes this a convenient cup to squeeze into a tight backpack pocket or cup holder. I really appreciated its ease of cleaning, its lightness and most of all its natural feel: the whole thing is made from a plant-based material derived from sugar beet.
There are limitations to this style of cup. It leaked a little during my trampette testing, and released coffee liberally when upended. For quickly drinking a short coffee drink bought from a cafe, it works very well, but I wouldn’t recommend it for transporting liquids.
It didn’t make the final cut because … heat transfer through the cup’s material is considerable. You wouldn’t want to keep a tight hold of it when it’s freshly filled with black coffee.
Capacity: 240ml; material: PLA (plant-based); dimensions: 8.2 x 10.1cm; temperature after one hour: 48.3C; temperature after eight hours: 24.8C; weight: 150g; dishwasher safe? Yes; warranty/guarantee: two years
What you need to know
Which brands have perks for reusable cup users?
The eco-friendly decision to carry your coffee in a reusable cup or bottle is well rewarded by various coffee chains and independent cafes.
Ideally, you’ll keep taking your reusable cup to your favourite local independent when you can. You won’t always get a discount, but savings of about 10% are not uncommon.
Several of the big chains offer incentives to use a reusable cup, including:
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Starbucks: 25p discount
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Pret a Manger: 50p discount
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Caffè Nero: double loyalty card stamps (so the fifth coffee is free)
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Costa: double loyalty card stamps (so the fifth coffee is free)
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Black Sheep Coffee: 45p off
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Greggs: 25p off
Supermarkets are also getting in on the trend. Waitrose now provides free hot drinks to its members only when they bring a reusable cup; Marks & Spencer cafes offer a 50p discount.
Are travel mugs actually eco-friendly?
A travel mug comes with environmental costs. Manufacturing and selling one requires energy and materials, and it will be cleaned with soap and water by the eventual owner.
Thankfully, the environmental toll of a reusable cup tends to be lower than that of habitually drinking from single-use cups, which are typically made from paper modified with plastic. A study by Ciraig (a sustainability research organisation based in Canada) found that a reusable cup becomes less harmful than using single-use cups after 20 to 100 drinks, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions generated. This varies depending on the material of the reusable cup.
You would hope to use your cup or bottle at least that many times – and perhaps even for a lifetime. Some models are built to last with decades-long guarantees.
Reusable cups are sometimes made largely from recycled materials, which reduces their embodied carbon (the sum of emissions created by making the cup and getting it into the customer’s hands). The maker’s business model might also seek to offset or outweigh environmental costs. For example, Ocean Bottle funds the collection of plastic waste through the sale of each product.
In short, reusable coffee cups are the most eco-friendly solution we’ve come up with for carrying hot drinks on the go. To minimise the environmental downsides, use yours for as long as you can, apply minimal (eco-friendly) washing-up liquid and hot water during routine washes, and choose a sustainability-focused brand.
Pete Wise is a journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering everything from global development and social causes to technology and music. He’s written various articles about coffee, including reviews of coffee machines and coffee grinders, and features on the health effects of caffeine. He’ll take a long black to go, please – in a reusable cup
