Ember Mug 2 review

Cold coffee is the worst.  I generally top my coffee up constantly to give it a warm up, but it turns out technology can make life easier.
The Ember mug is a rechargeable coffee mug that promises to keep your beverage at what it calls the perfect drinking temperature for hours. Since it’s cold out there right now I decided it’s high time to review this gadget and see if it delivers on what it promises. I’ll show you how the mug wortks, what is does, and what it does NOT do, and then I’ll let you know if I can recommend it for you.

Ember Mug 2 review

In the box you get your Ember mug and a coaster with AC plug. The mug has a built in power bank to hold temperature, or use it with that coaster to prolong your heating time.

The mug feels both like metal and like plastic; it’s light weight, but has that nice ceramic mug feel, thanks in part of a ceramic coating. I couldn’t really tell what it’s actually made of but my guess it it’s aluminum. I actually really like that it looks and feels like a regular mug, save for the tiny LED light under the subtle logo.

Ember Mug 2 is not a “heating” mug

First off: Don’t think of Ember as a “heating” mug. Instead it’s actually built for cooling and holding temperature. I initially thought it was going to keep my coffee at stovetop temperature until I was ready to drink it. Not so; the Ember mug is designed to let your beverage cool to a drinkable temperature you choose, then hold it there, potentially for hours.

How Ember Mug 2 works

The Ember Mug uses seven temperature sensors, a rapid cooling system, a microprocessor-controlled heating system, and temperature presets (though you won’t see any of that, just it’s smooth, chic design) to easily dial in your perfect temperature. What’s that temperature?  It’s up to you. You can have it cool your coffee or tea to anywhere from 120°F and 145°F, or 50°C and 62.5°C. The mug is available in two sizes; either 10 or 14 ounces.

How to set up up Ember Mug 2

Setting the mug up for the first time is easy; Make sure it’s fully charged then just download the Ember app, then follow the instructions.  The app should see you mug and prompt you to pair all on it’s own as mine did. Then you can choose a colour for the LED light on the front of your mug to personalize it—and to help tell it apart from your partner’s.

Using Ember Mug 2

Pour your hot beverage into the mug, and mine seemed to recognize there was liquid in it right away. In fact, Ember intelligently wakes up when hot liquid is poured in and enters sleep mode when not in use, which is fantastic and I found it worked seamlessly for me in my testing.

The app will show you the temperature of what’s inside, then you can choose how much to let Ember mug lower the temperature. I like my coffee pretty hot, so I chose the warmest temperature it would allow me to have which was 145F/62.5C.

The mug lets your drink cool to that temperature (or warm it up if your coffee in the pot’s gone cold), and then will hold it there either as long as the rechargeable battery has power, or while it’s connected to its AC powered coaster.

How long does Ember Mug 2 keep drinks hot?

The built in battery on the Ember keeps your drink at temperature for about 90 minutes in my testing.

In my review I used the mug without the coaster during my morning routine where I would sit on the sofa, drink my coffee, and peruse the news. It was nice not to need the coaster for this and the mug’s battery lasted long enough—until I had to get up and get working.

After my morning coffee break, I would fill up another mug and take it into my office where I would put the ember mug on its companion coaster. If the mug is set on the coaster while it’s plugged in, it will hold the temperature as long as all day. In my testing, I kept it on my desk while I worked. Normally I never finish my coffee because by the time I get to the bottom of the mug it’s way too cold. But with the coffee inside the ember mug and sat on the coaster, it kept my drink at perfect temperature all morning long.

I found it held my coffee at temperature, and I really liked the fact I never had to sip cold coffee.

Though I did use the highest setting available to hold my coffee warm (145F or 62.5C), I found that was just fine with me and I wasn’t wishing for it to be any hotter. Since it’s hard to say what everyone’s personal preference might be for “drinkable” temperature, a good idea to figure this out is to let your favourite beverage cool off to what you consider an appropriate temperature, then use a kitchen thermometer to see what it’s at. This way you’ll know if the Ember’s stated temperature range will work for you.

How to clean Ember Mug 2?

Naturally anytime you’re using a connected device that’s also meant for eating or drinking, there’s questions about how to clean it. The ember mug is not safe for dishwasher or microwave, and must be hand washed. Even so, Ember Mug 2 is IPX7 rated and fully submersible up to 1 meter.

Who’s the Ember mug for?

If you like scalding hot coffee, this mug is not for you. As I noted, the idea behind this mug is that it cools and then holds a drinkable temperature, and the top end heat level, of 145F or 62.5 degrees isn’t what I’d call piping hot. It’s …drinkable.
If you’re the kind of person who is forever burning their tongue on scalding liquids, this mug is perfect for you since you can control the heat. No more tentative sips and scalded lips.

Overall review – Ember Mug 2

I love the idea of this mug and found it easy to use and that it operates precisely as it describes. I like the design, and it feels like a real at-home ceramic mug; not like a weighty piece of tech.

On the downside, It does have to be hand-washed; not a huge deal but something to be aware of. And the 90 minute battery life is a wee bit disappointing for me; I’d love a bit more juice out of this mug. But at the same time, 90 minutes is all Ember promises. For me, 90 minutes was long enough to chill on the sofa and not need to go running for the coaster. And when I did hit the home office, I found the coaster was great at keeping my coffee hot until I was done with it.
In short, this mug is a great device, it works exactly as it promises and it’s made my morning coffee routine more enjoyable. The Ember Mug 2 sells for about $199CAD/$149US (and the 10 oz size is $169CAD/$129US) and you can get it from Amazon.

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