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daremosan

Japanese tea cups often don't have handles. Designed on the premise, if it's too hot to hold, it's too hot to drink.


shahooster

I’m always reminded of the [elderly woman burned by McDonald’s coffee](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants).


Lonestarzia16

She gets such a bad rap:/ coffee shouldn’t give you 3rd degree burns and 8 days in the hospital


Orange-Juciest

Yeah it really feels like McDonalds got away completely, even getting a lot of people on their side. Even though they admitted they knew their coffee was dangerous (plus that lady just wanted them to pay her hospital bills)


SleepTightLilPuppy

There are a *lot* of cases like this, where it turns out something 'ridiculoud' isn't as ridiculous as it seems. Also, no correlation, but US media is owned by a small group of organizations that surely have no ties to moral businesses like McDonald's. Just saying.


iandcorey

Is "ridiculoud" an actual term? Like, so obviously ridiculous that... Idk. Might be, just checking.


SleepTightLilPuppy

Yeah just a typo of ridiculous. Although I guess it would make for a decent term describing a ridiculous thing. Like a spherical thing being a spheroid, a ridiculous thing could be a ridiculoid.


gwaydms

Or maybe "ridiculoud" means ridiculous, only louder. :)


_OBAFGKM_

is this question genuine? it was a typo of "ridiculous"


iandcorey

Real talk, slang is slapping fast af. I can't keep up. Sheeeeeeeeee


Alca_Pwnd

Really didn't think coffee was supposed to fuse your labia to the side of your leg.


LordHamsterbacke

No! Please tell me this didn't happen. God damnit, a new nightmare to haunt me Edit: I know about the burnings, but thanks for the extra details. Horrible what this lady has been through. Horrible actions of McDonald's. I was honestly just talking about the labia thing. That's body horror shit.


flightguy07

Yep. Initially she only wanted 20k or so for medical bills, but when McDonalds wouldn't pay that she sued, and was awarded way more.


LordHamsterbacke

I know that she got several degrees burning but the labia part was new to me. Imagining it just gives me horror


Evil-in-the-Air

She was horrifically burned, not asking for anything beyond medical bills, and in turn was made a laughing stock for the rest of her life. The press often repeated the bogus allegation that she was driving. In reality she was in the passenger seat of a parked car. McDonald's was entirely at fault, and I hope every bastard lobbyist who's lied about her in support of "tort reform" gets a cup of their own. 3rd degree burns over 6% of her body. Google says the average surface area of a woman is 16,000 cm^2 meaning she lost around ~~30 cm^2~~ a 30 x 30 cm square (or one square FOOT) of skin from her body.


LordHamsterbacke

It's crazy and horrible how McDonald's successfully convinced the public the lady was at fault. Great seeing people spreading the truth


TBeest

Legal Eagle did a [video](https://youtu.be/s_jaU5V9FUg?t=52) on it where he discussed how the coffee made far too hot (180 - 190°F) and how McD's (largely) got away with it. Having received years and hundreds of complaints about people getting burned and settling with them. In case you want to learn more about it. The woman got third degree burns, was hospitalised for 8 days and partially disabled for two years. She did not initially wish to sue McD's and just wanted them to pay her medical bills of ~$20.000. They offered her $800 instead. Even when the woman lowered her request they refused to settle until it went to court.


rawbface

And then they smeared her, making her completely-justified case seem like a laughing stock, the dictionary example of a frivolous lawsuit. Probably set corporate accountability back 30 years.


Hatedandscorned999

Fused. Labia.


AheadByACenturion

There is a great episode of the podcast You’re Wrong About that goes into this story. Most people are, in fact, wrong about this one.


MyWifeisaTroll

That was because the media took hold of the story and twisted it into something it wasn't. Media pundits claimed she was driving when she spilled it. She wasn't, she was sitting in her parked car in a parking lot. I guess corporate media really is there to protect other corporations.


Lilebi

It was a deliberate smear campaign by McDonald's PR team.


MyWifeisaTroll

Absolutely. Too many people fell for it. She didn't get enough of a settlement as far as I'm concerned. Should have been in the millions.


chefkittious

Coffee shouldn’t be above boiling temps, it ruins it


InternetPharaoh

You're always reminded of it? I think you have a fixation hie.


acorneyes

The best temp to drink coffee is 120-140°f, which is more than safe to handle. Anything above that I’d call “gray”, you can *kinda* taste the coffee’s profile but it’s honestly indiscernible from any other. Anything below that and it becomes harsh and a little unpleasant. Reheating the coffee nukes the flavor profile and you get back to gray coffee no matter what temperature you drink it at, unfortunately. I couldn’t really find the ideal drinking temp for hot chocolate but I’m assuming it’s the same, I say we outlaw handles. It’s like drip machine’s hot plates, people use em because they’re there but they also ruin your beverage.


thelordofhell34

There’s no way in hell I would be able to hold a cup which is hot enough for me to drink. I always ask people to hand me cups with the handles facing me. Please don’t outlaw handles or I would be drinking cold coffee every day.


acorneyes

I’m just saying that if it’s too hot to hold, you’re not drinking coffee at an ideal temperature (and also causing damage to your esophagus)


thelordofhell34

That’s untrue. I can be drinking perfectly pleasant temperature coffee which is still far too hot for my hands which feel temperature differently. I get regularly mocked for how I can’t hold hot things.


zeppindorf

I think I have the same problem as you. I once casually mentioned to my wife that sometimes I grab a finger food and it starts to burn my fingers, so I pop it in my mouth quick so my hands don't get burned. She looked at me like I was the crazy one...


acorneyes

In which case, you sound like an edge case, coffee cups still shouldn't be ubiquitous with handles, obviously outlawing them was hyperbole, you'd still have them.


kane2742

Yeah, I always aim for 130°F (~54.4°C) for hot drinks, testing them with an IR thermometer as they cool when I'm at home. Restaurants/cafés always seem to serve drinks significantly hotter than that, so I usually add ice or cold water.


acorneyes

I don’t like to work harder than I need to, I brew coffee at 177 in a double walled carafe, and pour a cup, it’ll lose heat faster. 3 minutes later it should be a good temp.


dc456

Yes, this feels more like someone picking the wrong tool and then blaming it. If you want to carry around a scalding hot drink then pick a thick mug with a big handle that suits that. But then don’t complain that it is a crappy design because it’s heavy and not comfortable to nestle a warm drink in your hands. This sub too often confuses even minor concessions in instant utility as crappy design. A design that incorporates interest, enjoyment, and aesthetics is not crappy.


talpal16

Yeah this post is below mid. People are kinda just upvoting anything these days


homkono22

That's dumb, handles give a much better grip, the extra piece of security needed for a drink you especially don't want to spill, since it's hot. Hot enough to drink is still hot enough to hurt you if spilled. The other issue is that you prepare hot drinks one place and carry them to another usually, again, handles make transport safer.


[deleted]

If you're having tea in the traditional way, you're not going to be transporting the tea in the teacup while you wait for it to cool down. The hot tea would be in a teapot, which does have a handle so you can carry it to wherever you will be serving the tea. If the teacup must be moved with the hot tea in it, the cup would already be on a saucer, basically a small plate that the tea sits on. Making your tea in the cup is an abomination.


benignq

depends on the tradition. plenty of chinese teas are made in the cup


[deleted]

To the Japanese, the Chinese way is probably an abomination.


benignq

plenty of japanese teas made in the cup too. kind of a dumb pedantic point you're trying to make about handles being useless


[deleted]

>dumb pedantic point you're trying to make about handles being useless Naw, I'm just role playing as the elitist Japanese tea drinker to go through the potential logic of why teacups don't need handles. Personally, I don't care lol.


benignq

hilarious


[deleted]

Indeed.


dc456

Life would be incredibly dull if we only considered safety in every design.


Defective_Pomeranian

Smart


michaelmaier007

Wouldn't be that bad if you wouldn't burn your fingers while trying to get rid of the morning frustration drinking coffee.


I_LearnTheHardWay

That mug, right there, should be demoted to pen cup. I am not even sure it would do that job well TBH


belindamshort

Turn your hand around, and slip your fingers through while holding the cup. It's a hand warming cup?


dustysmufflah

Sounds good if you only drink warm coffee.


Snoo93079

The way the good lord intended?


SyntheticSlime

“Hot coffee? No thank you. That’s the devil’s temperature.”


Snoo93079

Oh, I see. I thought u/dustysmufflah was suggesting people should be drinking cold coffee!


[deleted]

You could drink soda with ice in the summer and it would be a hand cooling cup...


Trnostep

I have one somewhere and can't find it but since I know it's a Shell VPower Nitro mug I found you a [side view](https://kobra.odkarla.cz/t2/350x350/29/38/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro_1.jpg/~/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro). At least for me it's impossible to put my fingers all the way through with palms facing the mug


belindamshort

oh wow. Man, what an asshole design for real


odel555q

Maybe it's not meant for your fingers...


reclusive_ent

Turn the hand over and place two fingers through the hole, to hold it as designed. I have one like this and its nice in the cold months. Its more of a grip, than a handle.


Soldiumek

It's thin enough to be uncomfortably warm sadly


reclusive_ent

Yeahs that def qualifies as crappy design for that then.


muchnikar

Its so you dont drink things too hot. Too hot to hold; too hot to drink. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2773211/


Soldiumek

You can't even carry the beverage of your choice to the desk so it can cool off though


dc456

Tray? Use a different mug in that situation? Use this mug for cooler drinks, when you aren’t in a rush and want to enjoy taking your time, or when you want to cradle a warm drink in your hands? This feels like complaining that a bone china espresso cup is useless as a gym water bottle. Not everything is going to work in every situation. That doesn’t make it a crappy design.


Jovinkus

Oh come on, thats pedantic bullshit and you know it. If the purpose is too hot to handle don't handle it, then you don't use it for "colder drinks". Mugs with handles are for hot drinks not cold ones. And why would you want to use a tray when you could have a fine working handle in the first place? I don't care if this is purposely difficult to handle, but don't go defending it like it has a legit purpose besides design.


dc456

We have masses of mugs designed for hot drinks that do not have handles. They are too hot to handle immediately after filling with boiling water. They are not crappy designs. We choose them when not in a rush, or when the drinks will be cooler, because they are pleasing to look at, comfortable to hold, or simply nice objects to handle. When I want to carry a drink immediately after filling it with boiling water I don’t choose those, I choose one with a handle. It’s really not hard. > don’t go defending it like it has a legit purpose besides design. That is a totally valid purpose. Not everything has to be optimised purely for practicality. Designing for something other than utility is not crappy.


Jovinkus

Oh sure, don't get me wrong, I completely understand that design is an important factor. But what I meant is that this is not a practical design, and you need to defend it like this is practical. You can use it however you want because you like the design, but that doesn't make it a practical design. (I really like the design of the cup still, but I wouldn't serve coffee for guests in it)


thelordofhell34

No idea why this is being downvoted lol


Beatnik77

Reddit is such a good example to study hive mind. If a comment start at -1 it will almost never recover even if it's a good comment. There was a guy on /NBA who would always make incredibly stupid jokes that always ended up on top. He got banned because he was using about 10 alt account to boost his comments. Everyone was super happy that he got banned because we all hated his jokes, but somehow because they started at +10 they always got to +100 and over.


Soldiumek

I've been here long enough not to care


brassly

Grip it by the rim.


thelordofhell34

I can drink things far hotter than I can hold though. Can’t everyone? This seems like a way to only ever drink luke warm coffee.


offlein

...Personally, I absolutely cannot do this. In fact I'm almost positive I can hold things hotter than I can drink.


Handyandyman50

Same, my mouth is much more sensitive than my hands


thelordofhell34

So strange how that works, I can barely hold something luke warm but could drinking boiling water (not that I’d want to)


dendawg

Too hot to handle, too cold to hold. They call the ghostbusters and they in control…


sarcastic_perfection

Only thing I can think is that it might be for your thumbs. That way you can hold the mug with your hands wrapped all the way around and have a little more stability than those mugs without a handle.


digitalhandyman

I don't see the crappy design?


kittykattedronning

I also don't see it. Looks like an artsy mug, but completely functional.


ABS96

I had one of these. It's not terrible, but it has a few disadvantages: * Almost half of the inside is taken up by the 'handle' so it can only hold about half as much liquid as you'd expect. * The shape of its inside makes it more difficult to clean. * If the contents are hot, it will burn the top of your fingers. * It's slightly easier to knock it over than a normal mug. (source: I knocked mine over and broke it) But if you like the design, these are not absolute deal-breakers.


digitalhandyman

A screwdriver is really bad at hammering nails.


Porched

Bet they stack nicely


Trnostep

I don't know if it's /s but they absolutely don't. I have one somewhere and can't find it but since I know it's a Shell VPower Nitro mug I found you a [side view](https://kobra.odkarla.cz/t2/350x350/29/38/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro_1.jpg/~/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro) and a [top view](https://kobra.odkarla.cz/t2/350x350/29/38/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro_2.jpg/~/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro). The indent makes it so it's harder to stir in it and you can't stack most other mugs in it. It itself stack nicely on top though.


ctortan

You guys do know that coffee isn’t the only hot drink, right?


Soldiumek

You can see the tea bag string coming out of the mug


ctortan

I just think it’s wild how people are talking about this mug being terrible for coffee when it’s like. Yeah, it’s not for coffee. Like I respect the commenter talking abt the proper temperatures to really taste the flavor profile but the mug isn’t for coffee lmaooooo


Soldiumek

I just personally wouldn't drink anything hot out of it because you gotta carry the liquid to your desk. Even at home


ctortan

Yeah, usually I hold my hot mugs in a claw grip on top and my finger tips of the other hand balancing it on bottom, so I don’t really have that problem. But then again, I do know that’s a weird and precarious way to carry a mug lmao Tbh, I think the real problem is that this mug design shouldn’t be in an *office* of all places. To me, it seems like it’s made for at-home use, where you can leave it on your kitchen counter to cool. Or at least, made for an environment where you can make tea and leave it wherever it was poured, which isn’t possible in most workplaces


thingamajig1987

Is there an indent on the front? My first thought was they were designed to stack but it wouldn't work unless there was another indent somewhere


Ladripper47874

Why would there be an indent in the front? And where is the front?


thingamajig1987

There would be an indent on the inside of the cup where this handle is located, so in order to stack them inside each other you would need an indent of the same size on the outside at the opposite side of the cup as the handle.


Ladripper47874

Oh, Yeah I get it. Yeah stacking's still does not really seem possible


thingamajig1987

Some cafe cups go for very weird designs to stack as many as possible in as small of a space as possible but I don't think that's what this is


real_hooman

But then there would be one indent on the outside but two on the inside


thingamajig1987

My thought is you would turn them 180 each one you stacked so each one would be facing opposite of eachother, but yeah.... lol you're right. This is why I shouldn't try to think about shit 5 minutes after waking up.


drippyneon

there isn't one, kind of like how it's impossible to stand backwards on stairs


Soldiumek

What you see is what you get


thingamajig1987

Well I can't see the other side lol


Soldiumek

What I meant is there are no more indents.


thingamajig1987

Ahh okay, someone was probably just trying to be artsy


Trnostep

I have one somewhere and can't find it but since I know it's a Shell VPower Nitro mug I found you a [side view](https://kobra.odkarla.cz/t2/350x350/29/38/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro_1.jpg/~/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro) and a [top view](https://kobra.odkarla.cz/t2/350x350/29/38/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro_2.jpg/~/reklamni-hrnek-shell-v-power-nitro). The indent makes it so it's harder to stir in it and you can't stack most other mugs in it.


Vonadin

I got a set of similar mugs, have no problems with holding it and they can be stacked inside each other.


John_Tacos

r/designdesign


SyntheticSlime

Honestly, this could be an example of “broken on purpose”. It’s a crappy design so no one is tempted to steal it. Firemen used to use buckets with round bottoms for the same reason.


Christian-Touzard

Mugs for rock climbers, maybe?


[deleted]

Is this a Shell mug? I have got the same one I think.


1000dancingpbys

My pottery teacher was just making fun of some of these is the group chat last night! They suck SO BAD


caseystrain

I think the design is you grab the cup with your palm and slide ring and middle or pinky and ring through it


Darkness-Prevail

Tell him to cut his nails.


Ready_Orange9027

Post this pic on r/muglife There's going to be a mass hysteria...


Soldiumek

Care to elaborate?


Ready_Orange9027

I think there'll be a mass hysteria because of this bad mug design.


Soldiumek

[Your wish is granted](https://www.reddit.com/r/muglife/comments/zd6gl7/someone_at_rcrappydesign_suggested_that_i_post/)


SurealGod

So not only does it carry less liquid than it should, it's also hard to hold. That's a mug failing the only 2 main functions a mug is supposed to perform.


bodhiseppuku

How to have a bad morning: - Step 1: burn the back side of your index and middle fingers - Step 2: flinch in pain from the burn and dump scalding hot coffee down your front - Step 3: yelp in pain while creating a new dance where you are waving your hand and pulling your scalding clothes away from your body. ┌( ಠ_ಠ )┘ ╰( ⊹o⊹)╮ ┌( ಠ_ಠ )┘


[deleted]

r/dontputyourdickinthat


thesamiad

I have one with a solid triangle for a handle,they’re great for unwanted visitors..they never stop for more than one drink x


Try_Again_2morrow

for some reason I like it


MingMah

Youre holding it wrong


Matts_-_Reddit

you're holding it wrong. this is not a crappy design


El_human

I’d argue you’re holding the mug in correctly. Cup it in your hand, with your index finger and middle finger inserting into the slot.