Mug

A mug is a type of cup, a drinking vessel usually intended for hot drinks such as: coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs have handles and usually hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cups such as teacups or coffee cups. Typically, a mug holds approximately 250–350 ml (8–12 US fl oz) of liquid. A mug-shaped vessel much larger than this tends to be called a tankard.

Mugs typically have a straight-line profile, either perpendicular or flaring. But this is not defining for the form, and a curving profile is possible. But a single vertical handle is essential (otherwise the vessel is a beaker), as is the lack of a matching saucer. A mug is a less formal style of drink container and is not usually used in formal place settings, where a teacup or coffee cup is preferred. Shaving mugs are used to assist in wet shaving.

Ancient mugs were usually carved in wood or made of pottery, while most modern ones are made of pottery materials such as bone china, earthenware, porcelain, or stoneware. Large mugs, typically made of metal or pottery and used for drinking beer, are likely to be called tankards. Some mugs are made from strengthened glass, such as Pyrex. Other materials, including enameled metal, plastic, or steel are preferred, when reduced weight or resistance to breakage is at a premium, such as for camping. A travel mug is insulated and has a cover with a small sipping opening to prevent spills. Techniques such as silk screen printing or decals are used to apply decorations such as logos or images and fan art, which are fired onto the mug to ensure permanence.

Much of the mug design aims at thermal insulation: the thick walls of a mug, as compared to the thinner walls of teacups, insulate the beverage to prevent it from cooling or warming quickly. The mug bottom is often not flat, but either concave or has an extra rim, to reduce the thermal contact with the surface on which a mug is placed. These features often leave a characteristic circular stain on the surface. Finally, the handle of a mug keeps the hand away from the hot sides of a mug. The small cross section of the handle reduces heat flow between the liquid and the hand. For the same reason of thermal insulation, mugs are usually made of materials with low thermal conductivity, such as earthenware, bone china, porcelain, or glass.

Many languages including French, Italian, Polish, Russian, German, and English use two separate words for mugs and traditional cups. Translator Anna Wierzbicka suggested that this is due to a slightly different functionality: traditional cups are designed for drinking while sitting at the table, while a mug is designed to be used anywhere.

Though today mugs are associated with hot drinks, milk and soft drinks, many early mugs appear to have been mostly used for beer or other alcoholic drinks, and were often larger than modern mugs. Wooden mugs were produced probably from the earliest days of woodworking, but most of them have not survived or stayed intact.

The first pottery was shaped by hand and was later facilitated by the invention of the potter's wheel (date unknown, between 6,500 and 3000 BCE). It was relatively easy to add a handle to a cup in the process thus producing a mug. For example, a rather advanced, decorated clay mug from 4000 to 5000 BCE was found in Greece.

The biggest disadvantage of those clay mugs was thick walls unfit for the mouth. The walls were thinned with development of metalworking techniques. Metal mugs were produced from bronze, silver, gold, and even lead, starting from roughly 2000 BCE, but were hard to use with hot drinks.