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Best Travel Mugs

Updated April 2023
Bottom line
Pros
Cons
Best of the Best
YETI Rambler 20oz Travel Mug
YETI
Rambler 20oz Travel Mug
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Trusted Brand
Bottom Line

This double-wall, vacuum-insulated option holds up to 20 ounces of liquid for all-day usage.

Pros

Comes fitted with a welded handle for use on the go. Outer body is made from a dent- and scratch-resistant stainless steel. Lid remains securely in place with the twist on/off design and features a sliding closure. Dishwasher-safe. Available in a few colors.

Cons

The handle is pretty small, and according to some customers, there isn’t room for their whole hand to grip it.

Best Bang for the Buck
Contigo Autoseal Travel Mug
Contigo
Autoseal Travel Mug
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Simple Yet Solid
Bottom Line

With its Autoseal design, this travel mug prevents leakage and spills.

Pros

Comes in a 10-ounce bottle. Has an automatic lid closure and a button lock. Made with a double-wall stainless steel material that keeps the drink insulated and at the desired temperature. Hot liquid is kept warm for up to 3 hours, and cold drinks are maintained for 11 hours.

Cons

The lid is difficult to clean, and the body of the mug is hand-wash only.

Thermos Stainless King 16 Ounce Travel Mug with Handle
Thermos
Stainless King 16 Ounce Travel Mug with Handle
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Versatile Functions
Bottom Line

A state-of-the-art travel mug that has every convenient feature covered.

Pros

Features vacuum insulation for hours of hot or cold beverages. Built-in tea hook makes brewing on the go a breeze. The narrow bottom fits into most cupholders. BPA-free.

Cons

The handle doesn't feel sturdy and is awkward to hold. Slightly more expensive.

HydroFlask Coffee Travel Mug
HydroFlask
Coffee Travel Mug
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Customer Favorite
Bottom Line

Holds up to 12 fluid ounces, and is BPA- and phthalate-free for peace of mind.

Pros

Made with a non-porous material that prevents any residue or smell from a previous drink to remain in the mug. Insulated thermos keeps hot drinks warm for up to 6 hours. Is dishwasher-safe and fits into most car cup holders.

Cons

This lid leaks easily, and if the gasket is removed during cleaning, it is difficult to get it back on.

RTIC 20oz Tumbler
RTIC
20oz Tumbler
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Effective Outdoors
Bottom Line

This option works great for on-the-go outdoor use with its durable body and splash-proof lid.

Pros

Has a flip top that works well with straws. Keeps ice from melting for up to 24 hours. Made with a double-wall vacuum insulation and the outside doesn’t sweat to keep hands dry. Holds up to 20 ounces. Available in multiple colors and designs.

Cons

Customers reported having several issues with the lid such as it not staying closed, leaking, and difficulty drinking out of it.

Why trust BestReviews?
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and all opinions about the products are our own. About BestReviews  
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and all opinions about the products are our own. About BestReviews  
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We buy all products with our own funds, and we never accept free products from manufacturers.About BestReviews 
HOW WE TESTED

We recommend these products based on an intensive research process that's designed to cut through the noise and find the top products in this space. Guided by experts, we spend hours looking into the factors that matter, to bring you these selections.

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209
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Consulted
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Researched
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Buying guide for best travel mugs

If you like to drink your morning coffee on the go, a travel mug is an excellent investment. You can make your own hot or cold drinks just how you like them. And you can carry them with you to work, school, the gym, or wherever else your day may take you.

The market boasts hundreds, if not thousands, of different travel mug makes and models. If this is your first time buying a travel mug, you may feel overwhelmed by your number of choices.

That’s where we come in!

We've done the research so you don't have to. In our BestReviews lab, we poured the drinks, sipped the coffee, measured the temperatures, and analyzed the existing data, all to bring you the most accurate reviews out there. What's more, we never accept free products from manufacturers. We buy them from the store just like you, so you can rest assured our reviews are honest and unbiased.

If you need more info on how to choose the right travel mug for your needs, please continue reading this shopping guide. And when you’re ready to make a purchase, please check out the product list above for our top five picks.

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Not all travel mugs are created equally. Think about what you want from a travel mug, and make sure the one you buy has the features that matter to you.

Why buy a travel mug?

The first thing to consider is why you should buy a travel mug. Here are some of the top reasons why you might want one:

  • It's environmentally friendly. Paper cups from the coffee shop pile up after a while. It’s far kinder to the environment to reuse the same cup over and over again. Most coffee shops will happily refill your reusable travel mug rather than give you one of their disposable cups.
  • It's convenient. If you like to make your morning drink at home but don't have time to consume it before you leave the house, a travel mug offers great “on the go” convenience.
  • It could save you money. Considering the fact that a single beverage from a coffee shop could run you $5 or more, it makes economical sense to prepare your drinks at home instead of purchasing them while out and about.
  • It helps maintain your beverage temperature. An insulated travel mug helps prevent your hot beverage from growing cold before you reach the bottom. The insulation also helps preserve the chill in your cold drinks.

Travel mug features

You might think that all travel mugs are more or less the same. It's not quite as simple as that! Here are some features to consider:

Material

The two most common travel mug materials are plastic and stainless steel.

  • Plastic travel mugs tend to be more affordable, and most can be safely placed in a microwave.
  • Stainless steel travel mugs look great, and coffee connoisseurs claim that a good cup of joe tastes much better out of stainless steel. Why? Some say that a plastic travel mug can give your coffee an unpleasant flavor.

Although less common, you’ll sometimes see a person with an all-glass or ceramic travel mug. However, these aren't usually insulated.

"Travel mugs nowadays have extremely long insulation times, keeping hot drinks warm for 12 hours and cold drinks chilled for 24 hours."
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Insulation

All the travel mugs featured in our product list are insulated, which means they keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. However, some cheaper travel mugs you’ll see in stores and online may not be insulated.

If insulation is important to you, take a look at how long your chosen mug keeps drinks hot or cold. For example, Thermos specifies in its product description that the Stainless King keeps hot drinks hot for five hours and cold drinks cold for nine hours.

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Staff Tip
Stainless steel travel mugs should not be heated in the microwave.
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Handle

Many modern travel mugs don't have a handle. In fact, the only one of our top picks that has a built-in handle is the Thermos Stainless King.

Whether or not you want a handle comes down to personal preference. A well-insulated travel mug won't get hot on the outside when it has a hot liquid inside (or cold when it has a cold liquid inside), so a handle isn't needed to protect your hand. Even so, many people prefer to grip a handle when they sip from their mug.

With most tumbler-style travel mugs, you have the option of buying a handle/holder separately. For example, if you opt for the 30-ounce RTIC mug on our shortlist, you can buy a handle that will fit it from Aoocan.

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Did you know?
Roughly 20 million trees are cut down to make paper cups each year. Consider asking your barista to pour your to-go coffee into your travel mug to help out the environment.
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Leak-proof seal

If you don't want your drink to leak or dribble all over the place, look for a travel mug with a leak-proof seal. This will allow you to carry it in a bag, rucksack, or briefcase with the knowledge that the contents won't spill all over your belongings.

The RTIC travel mug comes with a lid, but some customers complain that it’s not splash-proof. If you purchase a mug with a seal that isn’t leak-proof, you may end up needing to purchase another lid separately. GetiGrip makes a replacement lid that some RTIC owners have found satisfactory.

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For your safety
BPA — or Bisphenol A — is a harmful chemical compound that can leach from plastics into food and drinks. We recommend going with a BPA-free travel mug.
STAFF
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Ease of use

Some travel mugs require you to unscrew the lid every time you want to take a sip of your drink. Others have a button you can press to serve yourself, and still others remain open at the top for easy access.

We recommend one of the latter, as it can get extremely frustrating and inconvenient needing both hands whenever you want to take a drink. For example, the Contigo AUTOSEAL includes a button which you press to seal and unseal the lid. The Thermos King includes a lever that you can easily slide open to serve yourself.

Size

Manufacturers make travel mugs of all sizes, from the petite to the enormous. The size you choose obviously depends on how much liquid you want to carry. However, it may also depend on how bulky the mug feels in your hand and whether you’re going to want to carry it around.

Travel mugs like the Contigo AUTOSEAL are purported to fit most cup holders. If this is an important feature for you, make sure the diameter of the mug you choose isn’t too large.

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Staff Tip
Not all travel mugs are dishwasher safe. If you're willing to wash your travel mug by hand, you might have a wider range of travel mugs to choose from.
STAFF
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Capacity

As well as the physical size of the travel mug, you want to think about how much liquid it can hold.

Sixteen-ounce mugs are quite popular, but our top picks range from 10 to 30 ounces. Conveniently, some travel mug manufacturers give you the option of selecting from a number of sizes. For example, the RTIC Tumbler featured in our product list holds 30 ounces, but the company also offers this model in 10-, 12-, and 20-ounce capacities.

The size you choose depends on what you plan to carry in your travel mug, how much of it you drink, and how long you want it to last. A 10-ounce mug would be perfect for someone who just wants a single cup of coffee. A 30-ounce mug would be more suitable for someone who fills their travel mug in the morning and enjoys sipping from it all day. (This is where a cup with good insulation comes in handy!)

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Did you know?
Many travel mugs are insulated, keeping your hot drinks hot and your cold drinks cold. They're perfect for summer and winter.
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Color

Do you prefer basic black or neon pink? Fortunately, most makes and models come in a range of colors so you can choose the shade you love.

However, some mugs offer more variety than others. For instance, the Simple Modern Tumbler comes in 16 different colors, whereas the Thermos Stainless King only gives you five color selections.

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Did you know?
A larger mug doesn’t necessarily hold more liquid than a smaller one. Capacity also depends on how the mug is designed and how thick the insulation is. Before making your purchase, check a mug’s capacity in ounces.
STAFF
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Price and durability

Travel mugs are one of those products where paying a bit more will get you a more durable item from a brand you know and trust. That said, the pricier travel mugs you see in stores and online aren’t likely to break your bank account.

The best Thermos varieties cost around $25 and are probably the most reliable and long-lasting travel mugs on the market today. The Thermos Stainless King even comes with a five-year warranty.

However, you can get a perfectly good travel mug for around $15, though it may come from a brand you've never heard of before.

We wouldn't recommend spending below $10 on a travel mug. It probably wouldn’t be insulated or designed very well, and you'd likely need to replace it sooner than if you'd shelled out an extra five or ten bucks in the first place.

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If your travel mug has an unlikeable odor, or leaves a bad aftertaste in your beverage, rinse it out with white vinegar or baking soda — this should resolve the issue.

FAQ

Q. Are all travel mugs BPA-free?

A. All of the top picks in our product list, above are BPA-free. However, not all travel mugs on the market are BPA-free.

Q. What capacity will I need?

A. This is something you'll have to work out for yourself. Try measuring the capacity of your favorite mug or tumbler and going from there. Of course, if you want it to hold multiple cups of drink, you’ll need to factor that in. Some people like to sip from their travel mug all day long without having to refill it.

Q. How long does a travel mug keep its contents hot or cold?

A. On average, a travel mug keeps hot liquids hot for somewhere between 6 and 12 hours and cold liquids cold for between 8 and 24 hours. Even the lower end of these ranges would be more than sufficient for most people. If you want a travel mug that retains temperature for as long as possible, shop around for those with the best insulation.

Q. Is my travel mug dishwasher safe?

A. Not every travel mug is dishwasher safe, but some are. If the ability to clean your mug in the dishwasher is important, check the manufacturer's specifications to make sure you can do so.

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