Mr. Coffee Mug Warmer for Coffee and Tea Portable Cup Warmer for Travel Office Desks and Home Black | Gifts for Teachers

I had a very nice Christmas (thanks for asking!), and I got lots of nice gifts. But the best gift of all that I received was the smallest item of them all. Mr Coffee Mug Warmer, take a bow...Truly, this mug warmer* really has changed the quality of my life significantly over the last few weeks. Now, you might read that statement and think, 'wow, your life must really suck for it to be possible for a mug warmer to make it better'.But no, my life doesn't suck. I just really, really like hot tea. You see, I work at home. And I don't have any work colleagues to shoot the s*** with - so, to keep me on my toes, I use caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine. But, much as I like caffeine (delivered through the medium of tea and, of course, it's more sultry sister, coffee), I get very sad when it goes cold. Indeed, taking a swig of cold tea or coffee is about as pleasant an experience as, say, getting smacked in the face with a wet pair of underpants (we've all been there, right?)Anyway, so I got this mug warmer and I switched it on and, lo and behold, there are no more such unpleasant moments in my life anymore (until someone turns up with a pair of wet underpants anyway). One of the small but incredibly irritating daily occurrences that I had come to think was inescapable has now been resolved! (Yes, things can actually get better!) So now, when I am distracted by a Skype call or any other task and so have to abandon my tea for 20 or 30 minutes, I can now confidently return to it knowing that it will still be piping hot (or very warm at least) and utterly satisfying.In other words, this mug warmer product delivers the goods and then some. The tyranny of cold tea has been defeated. And the misery of having to trudge downstairs to heat it back up in the microwave is no more. (Heck, at this rate I might never need to move from my office chair again - progress, eh?)But seriously, if you want a cheap mug warmer that keeps your drink at approximately the same temperature as you prepared it at, then this warmer will do the job nicely. I leave it on all day (yes, us home workers are total rebels, didn't you know?) and it has paid for itself many, many times over by now.*One thing that I have to say is that, while brilliant, this product is NOT a 'warmer' - i.e. it does not *warm* your drink up at all. Rather, it *maintains* your drink at approximately the same temperature as you prepared it at and for a good length of time. For example, if I prepare a cup of tea (which I am about to go an do, by the way), and put it on the warmer, it'll keep it at the same temperature - with only a very slight loss of heat - for up to an hour and beyond. As a voracious tea drinker, I've never actually let a mug linger long enough to see if there is indeed a point at which it will lose all heat. So surely that's a good sign, no?Bottom line: how can you call yourself a serious fan of hot drinks and not own this product? Shame on you! SHAME!Update (2 weeks later): bonus feature detected! If you are like me in that you tend to spill drinks and in the process your mug tends to drip with coffee a lot, you are going to love this... This mini hot plate warmer will sizzle all drippage away instantly once you place your mug down on it, meaning that you can also avoid any future coffee stains on your table. Then all you need do is wipe the warmer clean once it is turned off / cooled down (unless of course you're like me and you don't care). Score!

There is a problem cited throughout these reviews that since the mug warmer is not a hot plate, and doesn't reach higher temperatures, it can only help keep a mug warm. It cannot make hot a cup of coffee or tea from a cold start. I wondered about this, and tried it out, and yes, it is a problem. But there is a simple solution, cost about 10 cents, using a solution from physics and proven on long hikes. I tried it, and it works better than expected here as well. I can take a cup of water from a cold start to being just the right temperature for sipping, not quite steaming, but hot!Here's the physics: there are several types of heat, the most important in this case being radiant heat. Radiant heat is called radiant heat because it travels in rays. In this case, it comes up from the surface of the warmer, and yes, there is some other types of warming going on, but most of what seems to be happening to the liquid is that the radiant heat is traveling through it, and then dissipating into space. The cup loses other forms of heat too, but by just solving the radiant heat loss problem, you will have solved the entire problem of your warmer not being able to warm full cups of coffee or tea, or make cool water warm to start with for dissolving the tea or coffee in it. (I even use loose tea with this solution, and it works fine; it gets hot enough that it does not have to be a mix.)So what do you do to overcome radiant heat loss? A burner would just apply more heat. But if you wanted a hot stove in your office you'd buy a burner, for about 5x the cost of this, and then run the risk of injury in tight quarters. In this case, apply a radiant barrier. A radiant barrier can be fancy or expensive, but you can fashion a very serviceable and even decent looking one with practice out of about a foot of aluminum foil.Anyone who has been camping or tried to travel light while distance hiking knows that you can make a light pot cozy of aluminum foil that serves as a shield against win. The surprising thing is that this simple material we are used to using for wrapping pot roast has the amazing property as applied of cutting your need for fuel dramatically on the way to boiling water.So applied to the mug warmer, fill your mug, put it on, then by folding the aluminum foil a few times to a) stiffen it up, and b) fit around the cup, make a loose fitting wrap that sits just outside the mug, not too tight since you want to re-use it many times. Then apply a paperclip, preferably a small binder clip to joining the foil. Of course you can use other things as well. This way it lifts right off, and can be put right down.Of course, just going around the outside of the mug, the most important area is left open. So fold and refold a second piece of aluminum foil into a stiff square that rests on top of the lip of your mug. Actually this part alone is often sufficient to keep your coffee far hotter than the burner alone, and will work to heat up cool coffee. The additional loose wrap around part just makes it that more efficient.This really worked well for me, to the point I am very pleased, and don't have to run down to the microwave to re-heat my coffee or tea, but can do it from scratch, right on the cup warmer.I like the truly functional aspect of it, that I made it myself for ten cents, and can show a little creativity in sculpting it into something that looks alright, plus it recalls some good hikes . . . But if this is too man cave for you, there are pot cozies you can buy on amazon. Just make sure that they have a radiant barrier in them, or put some foil inside them too, tho no one will see it. That way, you keep recapturing radiant heat, and this is probably 90% of the battle. This way, by turning the radiant heat back on the cup, and back again, again and again, you multiply its effect pretty dramatically.IF this proves helpful, or you think it may, please give it the thumbs up. I'd like to see it rise as a helpful review so it can help solve what so many people have complained of.