Several coworkers bought me an Ember Mug for my birthday last week. I finally opened the box and set everything up last night. You may be thinking how hard is it to “set up” a mug? Well, first you need to download an iPhone (or Android) app, then recharge the mug, turn it on, and connected it to your mobile device using Bluetooth.
The idea is that you pick a temperature you would like to maintain via the app. When hot liquid > set temperature is poured in, a layer of phase-shifting material would draw the heat away and store it. Then when the liquid temperature drops below the set temperature, the phase-shift material would release the heat back into the mug/liquid until it runs out of stored energy or when the battery is depleted. So, the mug works best if the initial fluid temperature is high, i.e., there is more energy to extract and store. It is an interesting concept, but makes the mug design fairly complicated.
When I tried it out last night, my coffee from the fake Keurig machine was 155°F. I did see the temperature fall pretty quickly, but since it is only a 10 oz. mug, I finished the cup of coffee before the mug needed to reheat again. I will need to drink slower next time so I can test out if the heat retention system works.
Life with chronic diseases 