If you have a favorite drink you like taking everywhere, you've probably experienced spillage and other frustrating issues. A reusable, sustainable travel mug not only looks good, it’s also a smart investment if you’re always on the go.
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What's the best travel coffee mug?
Having the right travel coffee mug option can make all of this easier. You’re more inclined to make financially sound coffee choices when you have a reliable mug that works with how and when you drink coffee. After thoroughly testing 15 popular models for heat retention, leakage and sipping comfort, I landed on Stanley's 20-ounce Aerolight as the best travel mug for your money.
From this formidable bunch, I found the best travel coffee mugs in 2025.
Before endeavoring to find the best mug, I consulted Megan Biolsi, manager of coffee education at Sightglass Coffee. “I consider three main questions when choosing a mug, does it keep my beverage hot for an extended period?" "Is it spill-proof enough to throw into a bag? How easy is it to drink from while driving or walking?”
The best of the bunch.
After many hours of sipping, I've landed on the five best travel coffee mugs to buy in 2025.
Best travel coffee mugs
Best overall travel coffee mug
Pros
- One of the best in terms of heat retention
- Wide variety of sizes and colors
- Comfortable to sip from
- Lightweight
Cons
- On the pricey side
Stanley has been in the drinkware business since 1913, but somehow it was in the last two years that we all became fanatical about its mega hydration bottles. In more modest, travel coffee mug options, Stanley still succeeds -- good news for recent acolytes, since it also comes in various colors like you’d expect from the brand. Like the above options, this was one of the more successful models for holding heat.
The lid was also especially thoughtfully designed. The flip mechanism is snug but has a wide lip for snapping it open, and the flip top swivels about 270 degrees backward to allow room for your nose while you’re tipping it back to take a sip. (This is, somewhat surprisingly, not always a given.) The lip is also nicely tapered to allow for smoother sipping.
A close runner-up
Pros
- Leakproof 360-degree lid
- Ceramic interior keeps things hot
- Dishwasher safe
- A pleasing sleek design
Cons
- Heat retention performance was middle of the pack
Most insulated travel coffee mugs have a stainless steel interior, but many new to the market options offer ceramic, and it makes a noticeable difference, both in flavor, and in mouthfeel. This new option from Created Co. kept heat just as well as the big brands, but the flavor was much smoother, without any hint of a metallic tang, and the delicate sipping mechanism didn’t feel (or taste) like wrapping your lips around a hunk of plastic. (Truly, this was the top determining factor for me.) I especially loved the 360-degree sipping top: The lid simply screws open, and you can sip from any angle.
Best modern travel mug
Pros
- Sleek and slender design
- Excellent heat retention
- Pleasant sipping mechanism
Cons
- Not dishwasher safe
- More expensive than most
For those looking for a more contemporary option, the Miir Flip Traveler is a solid choice. The coffee was still drinkably hot after 6 hours, the screw-top lid is air tight, and the sleek design fits into both pedestrian and automobile lifestyles. The flip top lid closes with a satisfying snap. It’s not necessarily easy to flip open one-handed, but it does give more confidence to its leak proof nature. Beneath the flip top lid is a thin plastic lip that made for nicer sipping than many other models.
Best mug for tea drinkers
As a kid, nothing was more thrilling (for me) than taking dinner leftovers to school for lunch, insulated in a handy thermos. As a brand whose name has been around long enough to be synonymous with the form, I don’t know why Thermos was flying under my radar with travel coffee mugs. Among the stainless steel insulated options I tried, this was by far my favorite. It’s not the sleekest, and offers few colors compared with other brands. However, it offers something else that no other brands do: a sipping lip that is also stainless steel. Like ceramic, it makes a huge difference in the drinking experience compared with those that put plastic to your mouth. The lid mechanism also makes for easy sipping, with a generous aperture.
It also sports a handy tea hook, making it perfect for those who prefer English breakfast to dark roast in the morning.
Best compact travel coffee mug
Pros
- Collapsible for easy storage
- Pleasant sipping experience
- Stylish and affordable
Cons
- Heat retention was below average in testing
To begin, this is not an insulated mug, so it’s not the sort of thing you’re looking for if you need your coffee to still be hot several hours later. However, I still thought there were some elements to recommend, especially if you’re someone who leaves the house with coffee in hand and will finish it before you get to where you’re going. Made of silicone but with a screw-on lid, the cup is truly leak-proof, and I found it to be more neutral to the coffee’s flavor than even the ceramic model, and a genuinely nice sipping experience.
A harder sleeve gives it structure when it’s assembled and protects your hand from the heat. What’s more, it collapses to a tidy little 3.5-inch diameter cylinder that’s only 2 inches tall. It’s ideal for those who use a travel coffee mug only to commute with the morning coffee and then begrudgingly carry around the vessel for the rest of the day. Here, you can rinse it and tuck it away until you’re ready to use it again, and it’s a sweet little design.
Best budget travel mug
Pros
- Inexpensive
- Comfortable when sipping
- Dishwasher safe
Cons
- Median performance for heat retention
The tumbler style travel mugs I tested overall didn’t fare as well as the bottle-style vessels, but this was an exception. Because the lid screws on rather than presses on, it was actually leakproof compared with similar models I tried. With a tumbler, you really only get about 3 hours of ideal coffee temperature, and that was no exception here. However, it’s a slightly cheaper option compared with the other high performers on the list, that’s still insulated and gives a sleek look with a multitude of colors.
Available with ceramic on the inside, it ensures your coffee tastes exactly how you like it. Functionally, the flip top gets out of the way of your nose, and the lip is also delicate enough for pleasant sipping.
| Mug | Style | Special feature | Sizes | Colors available | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Created Co. Nomad Sip | Bottle | Twist open | 12 oz, 16 oz | 7 | $28 |
| Thermos Stainless King | Tumbler | Built-in tea hook | 16 oz | 5 | $25 |
| Miir Flip Traveler | Bottle | Modern design | 12 oz, 16 oz, 20 oz | 7 | $33 |
| Stanley Aerolight Transit Bottle | Bottle | Lightweight | 12 oz, 16 oz, 20 oz | 11 | $30 |
| Stojo Cup | Cup | Collapsible | 12 oz, 16 oz, 24 oz | 10 | $20 |
| Simple Modern Voyager | Tumbler | 360-degree lid | 12 oz, 16 oz, 20 oz | 11 | $18 |
Other travel mugs I tested
Hydro Flask Coffee with Flex Sip Lid: Here’s what Hydroflask has going for it: consistently hot coffee over time, a nice range of dynamic colors, and a handle option, which might make it an ideal backpacker or hiker travel coffee mug. What I couldn’t get past was the flex sip lid, which just feels like putting a lot of plastic in your mouth, and has a noticeable effect on flavor. It’s on the slightly pricier side, brand-wise, but I’d be game for one of their wide-mouth options designed to drink directly from the bottle.
Yeti Rambler Tumbler: Yeti has the absolute widest variety of sizes, colors, and models, offering lots of versatility, even just in its Rambler line, which, to be clear, works fine. Coffee stays hot enough, and the screw-on lid prevents leaks…mostly. Tumblers, generally speaking, just didn’t fare as well as bottles of other styles in actual testing, and at twice the price of the Simple Modern tumbler option, the sipping mechanism wasn’t as pleasant.
Zojirushi Stainless Mug: Zojirushi was admittedly operating with an unfair disadvantage, in that I’d owned it in earnest. Having been my top pick for a previous round of testing, I kept it and then replaced it when it went missing. (Read: When I distractedly left it behind in an airport.) While the replacement model still offered the best insulation by a large margin -- 6 hours later, still at 150 degrees Fahrenheit -- the mechanism has proven to not be leakproof. I may be inclined to overlook it and say it was just bad luck and an unfortunate fluke with the second bottle, but for $55 I wouldn’t be willing to take that risk.
Contigo West Loop Autoseal: Contigo has done something clever with its Autoseal mechanism, which is to provide an ergonomically-sound button at the back of the bottle, making it easy to open and take a sip one-handed. Unfortunately, the autoseal also traps liquid outside of the lid. Its screw top with extra lock is leak-proof, but the sipping mechanism isn’t.
Keep Cup Brew Cork: The design of the Keep Cup Brew Cork is undeniably stylish. The cork band is appealing, and glass is an ideal material for keeping the integrity of your coffee’s flavor. I didn’t judge it for its lack of insulation, knowing it would be an on-the-go option, but the lid is really challenging to wedge on and off, and the aperture for drinking is awkwardly small.
S’well Tumbler: S’well arguably has the best design among coffee travel mugs, offering numerous dreamy patterns for consideration. As an on-the-go coffee vessel, though, it was more form than function. The press-on lid is not spillproof, the insulation is moderate, and the sipping mechanism is a little clunky -- it feels like the aperture is set too far back from the edge of the lid to be graceful.
How I tested travel mugs
Every mug I tested got a vigorous upside down shake.
A good travel coffee mug should keep your coffee hot for at least several hours, but that’s the easiest metric to achieve here. Even the non-insulated options I tested are good for about an hour, which may work for a lot of sipping on the go lifestyles. To that end, I started with 160-degree liquid inside each of the models and checked them with a digital thermometer every hour for 6 hours to see how well they kept the heat. (Many brands promise up to 12 hours for hot liquids, but that’s also dependent upon not opening and closing the mug repeatedly to check for temperature.)
Biolsi offered the following insight as a benchmark: “The ideal temperature for coffee depends slightly on personal preference and one’s own ability to handle hot beverages, but generally, a range of 120 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit is recommended,” she says. “This allows you to experience the full complexity of the coffee’s flavor at a drinkable temperature.” While I started a little hotter than that, every model I tested lost at least 10 to 15 degrees of temperature in the first hour, putting it in the ideal temperature range from that point forward.
Leakproof lids are a must-have.
Beyond that, and arguably more important, a good travel coffee mug should be leak-proof. As a city dweller, I am frequently tossing a travel mug in a handbag of sorts; despite my best attempts to keep a tumbler upright for maximum peace of mind, this isn’t always feasible, and so I’m looking for confidence that hot, stainable liquid isn’t going to be sloshing all over my belongings. Even if you’re putting a travel mug in your cup holder, car commuters require confidence in the sealing mechanism. Scarier things can happen when your coffee malfunctions while driving than walking or sitting on a train. Each travel coffee mug I tested was therefore subjected to a vigorous, upside-down, 10-second shaking, after which I checked for any evidence of a leak in both the closure between the lid and the cup and the sipping aperture. Spoiler alert: Some sprung a leak instantly, others I had to double check that I had actually filled them, so secure were their fittings.
Finally -- and this is really where things start to get nuanced -- the sipping experience should be a pleasant one. Whether the insulation or lid affects the taste of your coffee, and how gracefully (or not) the liquid transfers from the cup to your mouth. A lot of travel mug testing focuses only on the top two points, and admittedly those were my priorities when I started, but by the end of my own testing experience I was more convinced that so long as you have the top two, which numerous brands do, the real factor comes down to the drinking experience. So I filled each model with homemade French press coffee with milk, as I’d typically drink it, (decaf, since I wasn’t trying to ruin my sleep) and sipped. Those that came out ahead had no transfer of flavor from the vessel itself, and best approximated the feeling of sipping from an actual coffee cup.
For the testing, I chose models from the most trusted, best-selling brands in the insulated drinkware realm, plus a few outliers: those that offer a unique design or element or are new to the travel mug landscape. Most of the major brands offer numerous sizes, colors and styles, including tea infuser options, so whether you’re looking for something small and sleek that can tuck into a bag and be operated one-handed or a mega mug with a handle and a shape that is destined for your cup holder, there’s probably an option to suit you. I’ve specified here what size and model I tested with, but I’d have confidence (or lack thereof) in other options from the same brand, and I’ve listed what they offer below each tested item here.
Travel coffee mug buying guide
Types of travel coffee mugs
The field of travel coffee mugs is vast in terms of sizes and styles. Most brands have multiple options, typically offering 12, 16, 20, and sometimes 24-ounce vessels. You can choose models with or without a handle, and some are designed with a taper shape that can easily fit in the cup holder of a car. Most are insulated, with a thermal lining designed to keep the heat going, but some aren’t, designed to be consumed more quickly, and saving on cost. Materials also vary, both on the interior and exterior of the mug. Hard plastic, stainless steel, ceramic, silicone, glass, and even bamboo are part of the field.
Cost: How much to pay for a travel coffee mug
Depending on what size and style you’re interested in, plus the level of insulation you require, travel coffee mugs can have a wide variety of prices, but plan to spend between $18 and $40 for a reliable, high-functioning model.
Ease of cleaning
Keeping your travel coffee mug clean is one of the most important considerations. Most of the models here are safe to put in the dishwasher, but you’ll want to read the fine print on whatever model you’re considering to be sure. Otherwise, reusable travel coffee mugs should be washed after every use and allowed to dry completely, and disassembled thoroughly for a deep cleaning regularly.