Ember Travel Mug 2+ Review
As we creep into the winter with the darker mornings and chillier temperatures, a warm drink becomes just as essential as a coat; something comforting to carry with you, taking the edge off the cold and making early starts a little more bearable. But it’s surprising how quickly drinks cool in takeaway cups, and even reusable ones, when the temperature drops below zero. That’s where the Ember Travel Mug 2+ steps in. Its whole objective is to stop your drink from going cold, instead keeping it at the exact temperature you prefer, so every sip is the same while you’re on the move. We've been constantly keeping the Ember Mug to hand to find out if it works and is worthy of its £199 price tag?
Design
The Ember Travel Mug 2+ doesn’t shout about being a tech-laden smart device. Whilst its constructed with double-walled stainless steel, it’s not vacuum-insulated like a traditional flask; this is so it can accommodate heating electronics and a battery, meaning insulation is less extreme, yet its total weight when empty is a mere 470g. Because of this, it’s a clean, tapered, friendly silhouette in its only colour which is black, and it's easy to grip in the hand without feeling bulky.
It widens slightly at the shoulders before sweeping down into a narrower base designed to slot neatly into car cup holders. Its exterior is a sort of rubberised hard shell which has proved durable during our usage and is easy to clean, as there are no notches or ingresses for dust or drips to dry; it’s smooth all over. There isn’t even a charging port, as it does this wirelessly on the supplied charging coaster. Importantly, you can throw the Ember Travel Mug 2+ into a bag and move around without a drop of liquid spilling out, as its push-button lid seals brilliantly and makes sipping from it easy as it’s a 360-degree area to do so from. Unsurprisingly, it’s not dishwasher safe and is hand-wash only (submergible up to 1 metre), but the screw-on lid is dishwasher safe.
There’s really nothing we can pick fault with about the design other than it conceals its height well at 20cm. It can be tricky getting it under some coffee machines, like the ones in Waitrose. We’ve been able to angle it slightly to get a drink in, but it is something worth bearing in mind.
Controls, The App and Apple Find My
A double tap of the Ember logo on the mug illuminates a hidden control panel, with touch-sensitive icons for + and - to adjust the target temperature you want your drink to stay at. As well as showing the actual temperature and battery, this method for adjustment on the device is surprisingly responsive and, most importantly, we’ve yet to trigger it by mistake.
For deeper customisation, like drink presets and notifications for when your drink has reached its desired temperature, you need to pair it with the Ember app. This app has a slick interface, with some presets already prescribed for drinks like black coffee and green tea, but you can create your own and label them too.
Furthermore, it has Apple Find My built right in, giving some assurances around its whereabouts in your home, or an office-type environment, if it gets misplaced or you can’t remember if you brought it in from the car.
Does it keep your drink warm?
It’s surprised us how quickly the Ember Travel Mug 2+ has become part of our routine. We expected it to keep hot drinks warm, but one of its most useful tricks is actually the opposite: getting a fresh latte or other piping-hot drink, setting our ideal drinking temperature, and then letting Ember manage the cooldown. Instead of guessing or leaving it too long, only to return to something lukewarm, the mug notifies us the moment it hits the perfect temperature—and then holds it there. It removes the entire “wait… and then accidentally forget about it” problem in one clever move.
Another interesting test we happened to stumble upon was pouring in an iced coffee whilst the Ember was charging on its coaster and telling it to reach 58°, which it managed in around 15 minutes.
With a maximum capacity of 355ml (12oz), which is the same as a Starbucks tall-sized drink, we find it plenty big enough for all the drinks we’ve had. Importantly, if you’ve made your morning coffee or collected one from a store and pour this very hot drink into the Ember Travel Mug 2+, the battery doesn’t need to work as hard initially. For part of the time the temperature naturally declines very slowly, just like a normal insulated mug, then the Ember kicks in to maintain the precise set temperature. The marketing claims 3 hrs, but in the real world you can get more than 3 hours of warm drink time, but not more than 3 hours of actively temperature-controlled warmth when travelling. Of course, if stationed at a desk with the charger coaster, your drink then has infinite heat.
When on the go, after the battery dies, warmth declines like a regular travel mug, so there are a lot of variables, but we’d say the 3hr active temperature control claim is accurate, and for this time of year, a 75° drink poured in will be at your desired temperature 4-5 hrs later. However, if you don’t move it for 2 hours or more, it will go into sleep mode, waking up only if it detects movement. Excellent for tech-minded coffee lovers who carry it with them and regularly sip; slightly less ideal if you need it to rest on your desk with some soup, wishing to keep it hot for 4+ hours for lunch without a charger; maybe just make sure you give it a wiggle to keep it alert.
Verdict
For us the Ember Travel Mug 2+ has become as essential a travel companion as our iPhone and keys. It solves a problem we didn’t fully realise we had: not just drinks going cold too quickly, but the daily dance of overheating, waiting, forgetting and returning to disappointment. Ember’s precise temperature control removes all of that friction and delivers a consistently perfect drink personalised to you, whether it’s a latte on the school run, a tea, or even an iced coffee you want warmed to the exact degree at the desk.
The design is understated, durable and cleverly thought through, with genuinely useful touches like a responsive touch panel, wireless charging and Apple Find My support for peace of mind. Battery life lives up to the marketing depending on how you use it, and while 3 hours of active heating won’t suit those expecting “flask-like” all-day performance, the Ember isn’t trying to be a Thermos, it’s a smart heater that maintains your chosen temperature with impressive accuracy.
Is it worth its £199 price tag? If you’re the kind of person who nurses a drink for hours, loves a precise temperature, or simply hates the moment a hot drink tips into lukewarm territory, then yes, it’s a luxury, but one with a daily tangible payoff. For tech-minded hot-drink lovers, the Ember Travel Mug 2+ feels like an indulgence that quickly becomes indispensable.
