My coffee cup stable houses a motley herd of cups. Some, I like better than others. I have favorites. Not only do I have favorites , I have certain cups I prefer to use on certain days.
Let me expound here upon the architecture of a good coffee cup -- which I will admit is totally subjective. Join me as I explain ad nauseum why I feel that there are 4 design components that are required for a positive experience. If you find all four in one cup, you’ve got yourself a keeper there, by god. In order of importance they are:
The Rim
The Handle
The Base
The Composition
1. The rim: nothing ruins my coffee-drinking experience more than when I have to flop my gums over a big, fat rim. Coffee cups with fat rims are like neanderthals with big fat fingers. Who invited this clumsy oaf to my morning coffee meditation? Not me! No, the perfect rim is thin and smooth, glossy, providing some refinement for my delicate pie-hole. A secondary choice would be a rim with an interesting, slight “lip” to it – as long as it isn’t too thick. I can also tolerate some kinds of pottery.
2. The handle: it should be easy to hold. Interesting curves or notches are fine, as long as they aren’t painful to grasp. The handle doesn’t have to be as thin as the rim, but again, I eschew giant, fat handles that cause me to use two hands to lift the cup. Who are these made for --- ogres? I don’t think ogres even use a handle so I guess they are made for NO ONE. If the handle has a smooth interior surface – one that makes your hands happy – it’s a bonus.
3. The base: okay, again I admit it may be weird, it may be OCD, but I like to be able to run my finger around and around on the bottom of the cup, if I want to. If the base is all rough or has (HORRORS!) craggy bumps on the bottom, I’d don’t wanna hold this cup.
4. Be it pottery, porcelain, or ceramic – I need to be able to put it in the microwave and heat it, without it getting so hot that it might explode into a million pieces. If the pottery or ceramic or whatever material is such that it can’t take a good microwavin’ – I am not going to use this cup at all – ever. Some cups do really well and others are very unstable in this regard. I also refuse to drink from a coffee cup made of GLASS, and I don’t enjoy drinking from plastic travel mugs. Yes, I do it, but it’s not the same experience.
With these parameters in mind, I bring you my week of coffee cups.
MONDAY: I like this cup for a Monday morning. I like the prosthetic arm picture on the side. In addition, the lip has a nice little curve to it and the overall size is just right.
TUESDAY: I usually grab this cup on a Tuesday. I have two of these, so I will probably grab the other one on Thursday morning. This cup really isn’t that visually pleasing to me in design. But it’s small and the rim is thin. So I dig it.
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WEDNESDAY: Hump day requires a special cup to get a body over it. I choose this cup because it pleases me. I actually got it at a restaurant. I was drinking coffee and just really liking it. So they sold it to me for a couple of bucks. This one has a thin lip but also with a rim that makes things more interesting.
THURSDAY: See Tuesday
FRIDAY: by Friday, I tend to go with a cup that was in Tim’s cupboard when I met him. (I have some weird, weird mental processes that often preclude me from drinking out of cups that I didn’t bring into my life on my own). This cup barely passes my requirements --the rim is borderline. But, I like the plainness of it. It’s a well-made cup but completely unassuming and vanilla. So it doesn’t interfere with my weird mental processes too much.
SATURDAY: Ahhh…… I save my favorites for the weekend, when my coffee-drinking is relaxed and extended. For Saturday, I choose this cup. This cup has EVERYTHING I love in a cup – thin rim, smooth handle, nice glossy area around the bottom. Just the right heft and balance. I didn’t really go into that, but if you pick a cup up by the handle and it’s so unbalanced that you can’t keep it level with one hand…um…could be disastrous. So this little baby gives me everything I need to perform my coffee ritual. Oh yeah.
 SUNDAY: For Sunday, I reserve this cup that was given to me by Aunt V. I think Simone has one too. I used to have 2 of these but I lost the mate in my divorce, somehow. I only got out with this one. It has a little vignette on the side of cats and quilts. It’s glossy and smooth where it ought to be. I have a little problem with this cup, however. I HAVE to use it on Sundays. HAVE TO. To make Sunday the way it needs to be, I must drink coffee from this cup and this cup only. To keep the delicate balance of the Universe, it must come from this cup and no other. Do you hear me?? So don’t come to my house and try to wrest this cup away from me on a Sunday morning!!!! DON’T TRY IT, BUSTER, UNLESS YOU WANT THE WORLD TO IMPLODE OR SOMETHING!!! Okay, good. I think I explained that sufficiently.
This one is an alternate Saturday cup. As you can see, it's pretty tall - but look at the rim - paper thin!
Finally - the undesirables. They only get used by unsuspecting guests who come over and grab them out of the cupboard.
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