Most travel mugs do a great job of keeping your coffee at ideal temperatures. But that drink is still going to have to be brewed before you leave home — a process that can eat many precious minutes to your already hectic morning rituals. The Hey Joe Coffee Mug cuts off that requirement, letting you brew coffee right on the same mug you drink from while you drive through traffic on the way to the office. And, no, it won’t require you to work a French press like other coffee-making travel mugs would.
To make coffee, just slip in a single-serve coffee pod (or just pack in some ground beans) into a pop-out tray at the center of the mug, press the power button, and wait till it finishes cooking. Once the coffee is brewed, you can start drinking it out of the opening at the top like you would with any regular travel mug.
Granted, the Hey Joe Coffee Mug doesn’t seem as compact as a regular travel mug. That’s because it comes with two chambers: one on top for the water and a second one at the bottom for the brewed coffee. When the button is pressed, water from the top reservoir will be scorched by a heating plate before mixing with the ground coffee and dripping to the chamber below. It comes with two settings for hot coffee, 140 degrees F (accessible with one press of the power button) and 155 degrees F (two presses), as well a third setting for cold drip coffee (three presses), so it’s quite the versatile device. A rechargeable battery at the bottom of the mug provides the necessary power for the heating element.
The Hey Joe Coffee Mug is currently raising funds for a production run on Kickstarter. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $49.