For almost everyone, the morning begins with a cup of their favourite beverage. Coffee, tea, green tea or even milk. Interestingly, the containers from which we consume the drink have also become part of our routine.
If once steel cups and tumblers or glass cups were the norm, now curated ceramic mugs are all the rage. And the mugs are now as important as the chemical balance of the morning java.
Before 3000 BCE, ancient humans drank liquids from carved animal skulls, wood, bone and even primitive clay pots. Soon vessels were created using wood, etc., as raw materials.
The modern-day variation of a coffee cup first originated in West Asia.
Small, porcelain, handleless cups were used there in the 17th century. In the West, this practice of drinking coffee in what we might call a teacup continued for a long time. In the early 18th century, handles were added to them, making the cup and saucer sets as we use today.
Around the same time, manufacturers began experimenting with sizes and styles, making mugs personal artefacts. The culture of fancying coffee cups is fairly new and can be traced back to the mid 1900s, when coffee became a household staple. During this time, cylindrical ceramic mugs started popping up everywhere.
In the 21st century, they became an extension of personalities. The trend of personalising mugs gained so much traction that people started collecting them, businesses started trademarking designs, and many even started selling cups as decor.
They evolved from standard colour-blocked ones into round smiley cups, mugs with morning motivation, prints of your alma mater, favourite sports team, personal photographs. Then came heat-resistant mini tumblers, colour-changing mugs, sustainable paper cups, eco-friendly bamboo containers and curated ones for animal lovers.
For Meher Nazrin, a working professional, drinking coffee is a mandatory morning routine. But which cup she drinks from matters a lot.
“Not just the perfect coffee, but the mug also matters. And the favourite mug varies with my mood and the season too. Sometimes it is my cat mug, where a naughty cat smiles at me from the surface print or artsy ones with colourful motifs or sometimes my solid black mug,” she says.
“But the size also matters. The bigger, the better — because it holds more liquid,” she quips.
For another coffee lover, Pallavi Sathyendran, the mugs she owned, in a way, reflect the many stages of her life.
“In my house, we never had coffee mugs. It was served in just any other glass. Only when I moved out of home and started buying things for myself did I get myself a coffee mug. That first one was a simple white mug with a painting of a girl. Not very fascinating, but I was very emotionally attached to it. When I went for my first job, I got a cup with ‘happiness is finding yourself’ written on it. It reflected how I felt at the time. Later, as a grown-up, I started getting obsessed with cute and creative things. The mug that was my best friend then has a huge sunflower on it. I buy such quirky and interesting cups when I get to see them in shops and exhibitions. One of my favourites is a blue, square-shaped, quirky one,” says Pallavi, who is a content director and social media manager.
As coffee lovers point out, the mugs do have a lot of psychology behind them. People often feel a sense of ownership over their cups. Mugs act as extensions of one’s identity and affiliations. And they even influence the intensity and taste of the coffee.
Studies show that colour-blocked or white mugs make the caffeine more intense. A study published in Springer Nature shows that drinking from blue cups makes the drink taste sweeter. Green cups make coffee taste more earthy, while the pink ones make it taste more creamy and soft.
It could be true, according to Thanseer Thahar, a digital marketer turned entrepreneur, who runs a small ceramic business.
At his shop House of Naksh, he says blue mugs are a favourite among his customers. Heart-shaped ones, novelty ones with animal figurines inside and themed cups are also in vogue, he says.
Thanseer also has a personal collection, something he has been curating over six years. “I got my first ever coffee mug as a gift, and it was a cup with my favourite football club, Liverpool, painted on it. That bright coloured mug always stood out everywhere. In my collection, there is a special small espresso shot cup that I got from Vietnam. Then, there is a skull-shaped cup, a heart-shaped one, a set of Persian-printed mugs and so on. My favourite one is an extra-huge cup that can hold coffee for up to 3 people at once. When I buy one, I look for the materials used, preferring non-toxic ones,” he explains.
Well, just like how you make your coffee perfect for your taste, the mug becomes an extension of that routine. “Well, I always have my morning cuppa in a bright coloured mug. The day gets a bit more colourful thanks to it,” Thanseer smiles.