We take our coffee pretty seriously over here at Brit & Co. We look for new ways to get our jolt, search for new devices to get us our beverage quicker, and even swoon over high-speed photos of coffee spills. And while we love iced coffee as much as the next person, there’s nothing worse than a hot cup of coffee gone cold. Sure, you can microwave your drink, but what if you could just press a button on your mug and be ready to drink again anywhere, any time? Enter the “Burning Cup,” by designer Ryan Jongwoo Choi.
This concept simply harnesses basic chemistry to solve a ridiculously common consumer problem. The cup has an inner layer of sodium acetate. (For the non-chemistry literate, this is what is used in household heat packs!) This solution is disrupted by the small impact from a press of a button on the side of the mug. It then hardens to solid, emitting heat as it goes, warming your beverage to the perfect sipping temp.
This is no one-time use, short-term fix. Due to the nature of the chemical reaction, as you’re sipping your newly hot coffee, the compound will return to liquid form due to its contact with the heat from your beverage. It’ll then be ready for use when your drink cools off. That’s right: you can heat your coffee with your mug and this coffee, in turn, “recharges” your mug!
In short: hot coffee, no matter how long it takes you to drink it, with the push of a button. Now we just can’t wait until this is available commercially!
What do you think of the “Burning Cup”? Do you have any tricks for keeping your coffee warm? Let us know in the comments below or over on Twitter.
