There’s a certain sentiment in using handmade ceramic mugs. Knowing that an artist crafted your beer or coffee’s vessel, that it was made with reliable material by a passionate worker, adds a quality to the experience you cannot get with otherwise manufactured mugs.
As stoneware savants who are serious about backing the products we love, we couldn’t resist making a list specific to handmade ceramic mugs. This post highlights what we believe to be the primary factors that make ceramic mugs a go-to choice whether you’re purchasing a gift, adding to your home collection, or displaying your company’s logo.
1. Ceramic Mugs Retain Heat Well
The first reason to choose a ceramic mug over another style is that ceramic maintains the heat of your drink better than other materials. This is because ceramic is more porous, meaning conduction occurs slower.
Conduction is the loss of heat through the direct contact of two materials, one of which is cooler than the other. The little air pockets that develop in the pores of ceramic act as heat insulation, slowing the process of conduction.
There’s also convection at play, as it relates to heat. Ceramic has a higher specific heat than glass, which means ceramic will lose heat through convection at a slightly slower pace with ceramic than with glass.
2. Your Drink May Taste Better
The material matters. Have you ever tasted coffee from an old stainless steel mug and something was just off?
Well, the taste imparted by a stainless steel mug is actually imparted by soap, rancid coffee oils, and manufacturing lubricants that are adsorbed onto the chromium oxide layer (the formation of which is what makes steel “stainless”). Chemical removal of these adsorbed compounds is generally accomplished by “specialized” coffee equipment cleaners.
Ceramics, however, don’t absorb these elements. So every time you drink a clean ceramic mug, it’s like experiencing the mug for the first time again.
Also, you probably know that taste and scent are tied together. When drinking out of a plastic travel mug, you may notice your coffee or tea isn’t up to par. That’s because a travel mug doesn’t give you the freedom to bury your nose into them in the same way that a ceramic mug does.
3. You’re Supporting the Arts!
Sure, you can make your way to a local department store and grab some bulk plastic thermoses that were made by a machine. It may be a convenient, perhaps even economic option if you go cheap enough.
But you won’t get the satisfaction that comes with obtaining quality merchandise formed by the hands of a passionate worker. Ceramic mugs are more than a means of a paycheck to them. These artists dedicate their professional efforts to supreme craftsmanship because it’s what they love to do.
4. They Help You Get Creative
Ceramic mugs can be customized to represent any personality, group, or business. For example, our offerings include logo customization to suit any company’s branding message and we offer lots of colors, sizes and styles of mugs. Whether you want a two-tone beer stein fit to your brewpub branding purposes or your coffee shop’s logo displayed across the front, ceramics can help you deliver that personal touch.
To put it simply, rather than picking up a generic mug at a department store (a mug that already occupies cabinets in hundreds of homes and businesses), you can instead take advantage of the dynamic nature of stoneware.
5. Mugs Make a Great Marketing Tool
If you’re looking to gain more brand awareness, ceramic mugs can be great tokens of memorabilia for customers browsing your business or attending your events. High-quality stoneware provides your patrons a one-of-kind souvenir to remember their experience.
Whether you want to give them away to build awareness or sell them for a profit, customers will carry your company brand on quality material for decades to come – if not a lifetime.
Grey Fox Pottery – Your Logo in Their Hands
We used the term “stoneware savant” earlier, and we meant it. We are in the business of partnering with companies and business leaders who want to benefit from the unmatched qualities of handmade ceramic mugs and steins.
So if you’re on the hunt for a new product or a large order to commemorate an event, you’re in the right place. Our low minimum order of 48 mugs is hard to pass up. Just give us a call or connect with our office online to get started.