Non-Toxic Thermos, Travel Mugs & Tumblers for Hot Beverages

Where can you find the safest non-toxic thermoses, travel mugs, & tumblers without exposure to plastic? In other words, which mugs will help you keep microplastics out of your coffee and tea? Mamavation conducted a materials investigation and reached out to the most popular brands to determine which materials and chemicals are used during manufacturing to make the safest travel coffee mug. You’ve trusted Mamavation to bring you other investigations like safest air fryers without PFAS or nano-ceramic coatings, safest blenders without plastic, and safest water filters for filtering PFAS “forever chemicals,” now join us as we bring you the safest thermos, travel mugs, & tumblers for hot beverages like coffee.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.

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Basic Rules For Thermos & Hot Beverage Mugs

This category is a bit complicated. That’s because most products expose you to microplastics or other concerning coatings. After analyzing this category of thermos & hot beverage mugs, we came up with some basic rules you can apply when you are making purchases.

Coatings: Avoid any coatings touching your hot beverage.
Polymers: Avoid any type of plastic or silicone touching your hot beverage, including straws or lids.
Safest Solutions: Safest materials are stainless steel, glass, or uncoated ceramic.
Learn a Safe Strategy: Most products have lids made of plastic or silicone. We recommend removing your lid when you drink your hot beverage as a way to lower your exposure to microplastics. Therefore, if you learn that practice, feel free to purchase from the “better” category as well.

If you are paying close attention to rule #4, you’ll realize that both the “better” and “best” categories are where you can safely purchase products. But in order to purchase from the “best” category, you’ll need to remove the lid when you are drinking constantly.

Coatings Inside Your Tumbler

Mamavation found some products with materials with different types of concerning coatings.

Ceramic Coatings

You’ll want to avoid nanoparticles in hot beverage containers, just as you do in cookware, for the same reason.

Nanoparticles have been discovered as a leaching byproduct of ceramic coatings. Nano titanium dioxide is the most prevalent substance found and is hazardous because it’s been shown to cause immune system disruption and pre-cancerous lesions in the gut.

Nanoparticles themselves are problematic because their tiny size allows them to enter most areas of the body and wreak havoc in the most pervasive ways. For example, asbestos is a carcinogenic nanoparticle that has taken many people’s lives.

Mamavation has taken a hard stance against nanotechnology in ceramic glazes for this very reason.

PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Coatings

Non-stick coatings are well known for their toxicity and are also bioaccumulative. These chemicals have been dubbed “forever chemicals” because they are resistant to environmental breakdown. Fluoropolymers used in non-stick coatings were found to increase the incidence of tumors of the liver, testicles, mammary glands, and pancreas in lab animals. The EPA has also classified perfluorinated compounds (PFCs, or PFAS) as likely carcinogens.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered a shocking statistic — 98% of Americans have detectable levels of PFAS or PFCs in their bodies.

Here are some of the health effects of different PFAS “forever chemicals.”

Mysterious Prop. 65 Warnings

California Proposition 65 is a useful tool that identifies an extensive list of naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals that are known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. These chemicals include additives or ingredients in pesticides, common household products, food, drugs, dyes, or solvents.

Listed chemicals may also be used in manufacturing and construction, or they may be byproducts of chemical processes, but overall, if a line of hot beverage containers passes the Prop 65 leach test, we can at least have some assurance that the products are relatively safe to use.

Lids Made From Plastic or Other Polymers

Any polymer (such as plastic or silicone), when heated, slowly releases the same chemical additives used to produce it into the food. This is why it’s important not to eat or drink anything off of plastic or silicone, especially hot beverages like coffee or tea.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of products we evaluated for this investigation had a type of plastic touching the hot water somewhere. But most of the time, it was just the lid.

So here’s the rub —the vast majority of these products will fail because they expose you to microplastics and other chemical additives while you drink.

But if you can make one simple adjustment while you are drinking, you can avoid most of that. If you remove the lid when drinking your hot beverage, you will reduce your exposure to microplastics from products in the “better” category.

Most Straws Were Made from Plastic or Silicone

There were many examples of straws made from plastic or silicone in this category. Remember, you do not want to sip liquids from a plastic or silicone straw, especially when it’s a hot beverage. Instead, we recommend you swap to either glass or stainless steel.

Swap Silicone or Plastic for Stainless Steel or Glass Straws

Mystery Plant-Based Cup Materials

There were some examples of products that were made from mystery plant-based materials. It’s nice to be “plant-based,” but that doesn’t mean non-toxic or safe.

“Plant-based” is simply a marketing term. The materials may or may not be less problematic than polypropylene or polyethylene plastics. However, these alternatives have not disclosed what chemical additives were used to make the plastic. That’s important because when polymers are heated, they tend to release chemical additives into the food they come into contact with. When you don’t know what those chemical additives are, you cannot be sure they are safer than regular plastics. Mysteries in this sense are not recommended.

More Mamavation Investigations For the Kitchen

Cookware & Bakeware

Other Kitchen Accessories & Small Kitchen Appliances

Hot Beverages

Mamavation’s Investigation on Thermos, Travel Mugs, & Tumblers for Hot Beverages

Not Our Favorite Thermos, Travel Mugs, & Tumblers for Hot Beverages

These products had plastic (or a type of polymer) touching most of the food contact surface, coatings, mystery materials, or concerning Prop. 65 warnings.

BruMate Nav 25oz (prop. 65 warning)
Corkcicle Pure Taste Mug (potential nano)
Custom Ink Sip by S’well Laser Engraved 16 oz. Insulated Travel Tumbler (prop. 65 warning)
FEBU Plant-Based Reusable Coffee Cup With Lid and Sleeve (polymer-based)
Fellow 16 oz Carter Move Travel Mug (nano coating inside & PFAS on outside)
Maui Pineapple Eco-Friendly Reusable Plant Fiber Travel Mug (mystery materials)
Sea to Summit Passage insulated Mug (polymer-based)
Yeti Rambler® 10 oz Tumbler WITH MAGSLIDER™ LID (prop. 65 warning)
Zojirushi SM-SA48-BA Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Mug (prop. 65 warning)

Better Thermos, Travel Mugs, & Tumblers for Hot Beverages

Each one of these products is fine, and the only problem we had with them was the lids (or a straw). Therefore, if you decide to remove the lids before you drink or swap out the straw, you can safely choose from any of the products below as “best” without the lid. Got me? It’s fine. Just take the lid off or swap the straw.

BOLDE Bottle
Burnout Tumbler – Slide Seal Lid
Earth Easy Reusable Glass Coffee Cup 16oz – JOCO
HydroFlask 20 oz All Around™ Tumbler
Life without Plastic Double Wall Reusable Glass Travel Mug – 400 ml / 13.5 oz
Keep Cup Brew Cork – L 16oz
Kleen Kanteen Camp Mug
Kleen Kanteen 20oz TKWide with Café Cap
Kleen Kanteen 26oz Rise Tumbler
Mason Bottle Stainless Steel Straw Cup, 16
Miir Flip Traveler
Ocean Bottle Travel Mug (12oz)
Odwala SmoothSip
Pirani 16oz Insulated Stackable Tumbler
S’well Stainless Steel Traveler with Commuter Lid, 16oz, Teakwood,
S’well Traveler | 24oz
The Republic of Tea Bamboo Travel Tumbler

Best Thermos, Travel Mugs, & Tumblers for Hot Beverages

These products do not expose you to microplastics while you are drinking your hot beverage. You won’t need to adjust anything in order to drink.

Elemental Artisan Insulated Tumbler, Triple Wall Coffee Travel Mug
EverVessel Glass Multi Travel Mug
Glaver’s Mason Jars (Ordinary Mason Jars with Handle)
Go Forth Goods The Original Traveler Mug
Klean Kanteen TKPro Insulated Thermos (not available presently)
Oowee Wide Mouth Mason Jar w/Pine Trees Design Leather Sleeve (made by people with Autism)
Pure Zen Tumbler
Tease 3 in 1 Sustainable Glass and Bamboo Tea Tumbler
Tupkee Double Wall Glass Tumbler

Basic Rules For Thermos & Hot Beverage Mugs