There are plenty of travel mugs to choose from out there—from the cheap plastic kind sold at your corner convenience store to fancy stainless steel double-walled vacuum insulated products that promise to enhance your active, outdoorsy lifestyle. Our picks are primarily focused on coffee drinkers, but whether you plan to use a travel tumbler as a conveyance for hot coffee and tea, cold brew, or ice water—or a combination of all those things—read on to learn which travel mug is the best fit for you.
The best travel coffee mugs
Best travel coffee mug for your bag or backpack: Zojirushi Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Mug
This vacuum-insulated, double-walled travel mug does an incredible job keeping liquids hot for hours and is about as leakproof as it gets, all while being lightweight and slim.
While not an easily sippable tumbler, this container is excellent at preventing leaks; the spout is totally seals with a push-button, click-into-place lid that features a silicone stopper, and all of that additionally closes up with a sliding lock. This makes it ideally suited for public transportation commuters who might be tossing their entire coffee container inside their bags at a moment’s notice. If you want to avoid residual spills, this one’s for you. Don’t just take our word for it: This mug has 4.7 stars from over 33,000 reviewers on Amazon, too.
This is less of a coffee cup and more of a Thermos-style carafe. Drinking out of the inset spout is a little more cumbersome than some other tumblers with sipping lids that we tested. It’s also not dishwasher-safe (a common trait among vacuum-insulated vessels) and it’s not the easiest to handwash due to its small opening; however the inside of the bottle has a BPA-free nonstick coating, so it shouldn’t need regular scrubbing. All sizes of this bottle have a smaller diameter, which is great for slipping into a bag, but won’t fit snugly in a standard car cupholder. The tallest 20-ounce model also might have trouble fitting under a single-serve coffee maker.
- Dishwasher safe: No
- Fits in car cupholder: Yes, loosely
- Leakproof: Yes
- Sizes available: 12 ounces, 16 ounces, 20 ounce
- Warranty: 5 years
Best travel coffee mug for car commuters: Owala SmoothSip Slider
Sippable, slider-style coffee tumblers with leakproof lids are tough to crack, but Owala seems to have done it with this relatively new product.
We were able to fill the SmoothSip Slider with liquid and shake it upside-down with no drips or spills. The screw-on lid has a silicone gasket all the way around the outside, and its sipping spout opens and closes with a push-down-and-slide motion on its central button-like mechanism. If that sounds complicated, it isn’t. Once you get the hang of disassembly, the whole lid easily comes apart in three washable pieces. Its tapered, squarish bottom fits easily into most cupholders and bags’ bottle pouches. More than half a year after my initial tests, I’m still using the Owala as my everyday coffee cup (two of them, in fact: the small one for hot coffee and the larger one for cold drinks) and it still passes the upside-down test.
Unlike the slimmer cups we tried from Zojirushi and brands like Miir and Fellow, this one feels pretty bulky in your hand, though not nearly as cumbersome as some similarly sized Yeti and Stanley tumblers. Finally, the heat retention over five hours was not as impressive as the Zojirushi or other, better insulated mugs, but it sufficed for hot coffee or tea drunk within a couple hours of putting on the lid.
- Dishwasher safe: Lid, yes. Cup is handwash recommended.
- Fits in car cupholder: Yes
- Leakproof: Yes
- Sizes available: 12 ounces, 20 ounces
- Warranty: Limited lifetime on material and manufacturing defects
Best dishwasher-safe travel coffee mug: Brümate Nav
If the one thing stopping you from bringing your coffee on the go instead of buying another cup from the coffee shop is the cleaning aspect of a nice travel mug, consider the Brümate Nav.
It offers a leakproof, flip-top locking lid design that’s also easily sippable, plus a dishwasher-safe cup. The lid’s drinking spout has a secure silicone stopper that, even when the additional sliding lock mechanism is not engaged, still creates a strong seal that stood up to our upside-down shake test. Heat retention is good, offering hot (enough) coffee for up to four hours, as the product description promises (though after five hours we measured a significant drop). The tapered bottom of the cup is covered by a removable silicone sleeve, which adds extra grip while holding it, and a little anti-tip insurance on our desk. (You can also change the sleeve, which is available in a variety of colors as an accessory for customization.)
Like the Owala, long-term heat retention wasn’t at Zojirushi levels in this cup, though it delivered on keeping our drinks hot for the first hour or two. This mug used to come in a smaller size, but now only comes as a 25-ounce or 35-ounce tumbler. Generally speaking insulated tumblers retain more heat when they are full, so if you only require 8 to 12 ounces of coffee to get going in the morning, you’ll likely find even the 25-ounce model too big for your needs, in addition to losing heat when less than half-filled. (For a similar alternative, consider the Brümate Müv, which we tested below.) Finally, the locking lid is impressively leakproof but requires a bit of force to lock, unlock, and flip the sipping spout cover. For quick, eyes-on-the-road opening from a fully locked position, we preferred the Owala.
Most colors of the Nav are dishwasher safe, but a few premium finishes are hand wash. Double check your individual preference for details.
- Dishwasher safe: Yes, most colors
- Fits in car cupholder: Yes
- Leakproof: Yes
- Sizes available: 25 ounces, 35 ounces
- Warranty: Limited lifetime
How we tested travel coffee cups
In addition to toting these mugs along as our everyday coffee cups, we pitted each head to head in a five-hour test to determine heat retention of freshly poured hot liquid into the containers, which were not preheated. (Some manufacturer instructions advise that preheating your cup with hot water before you pour in your drink will offer better heat retention, a step we assumed most users wouldn’t bother doing.) We also closed each mug and tipped them upside-down to check their leakproof status, as well as shaking, walking, and commuting with them to see how they fared on the go.
What makes a good travel coffee cup?
The ideal travel mug can be tossed into a commuter bag, purse, or backpack without worrying about it leaking, so a good seal was a must. Ideally, the mug would also be as spill-proof as possible when tipped, even with the lid open.
It has good heat retention
The better a mug held the temperature of whatever was initially poured into it, the better it fared in our results. While some of the other carafe-style mugs we tested might seal and hold onto heat a bit better than a tumbler-style, factors like ease of drinking also played a role in overall performance.
Does the locking or closing mechanism work without much effort or thought? Is the mug easy to hold in one hand and carry on the move? How awkward was the spout or opening for drinking? Can the cup be cleaned with a quick scrub, and does the lid have too many moving parts or hidden crevices where gunk can build up?
Yes, looks matter. While it might not be the most important factor, we wouldn’t give as high of marks to a less aesthetically pleasing mug that does the same job as something sleeker but is more worthy of showing off on your desk. While most of the stainless steel travel mugs we tried function similarly when it comes to insulation, sometimes over-designed products have unintended quirks.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but in the age of giant water jugs all over WaterTok and hefty vacuum-insulated stainless steel tumblers, you do indeed need to test whether a travel mug (or water bottle, for that matter) will fit whatever vehicle you’re travelling in, whether on your daily commute or a long road trip. And while slimmer might seem better and more universal, small diameter carafes jostle around when you hit bumpy terrain, so a secure cupholder fit is worth considering.
Other travel coffee cups we tested
Yeti Rambler with Magslider Lid
People love their stainless steel Yeti mugs, and there’s a good reason for that: They’re a well-built, affordable option that comes in a bunch of fun colors and swappable list styles. We think the Magslider lid by Yeti is a great option if you are mostly keeping your drink in a cupholder or on your desk, as its lid slides open and snaps shut easily; however, it is by no means leakproof, which is why it doesn’t take the top spot when compared to the Owala. The entire thing is dishwasher safe, so we’d also consider it a strong runner-up to the Brümate, too.
Yeti Rambler Travel Mug with Stronghold Lid
If water or cold beverages are your primary concern, then we also like this handled mug version of the Rambler for the same reasons we like the Magslider Rambler, with the added benefit that the Stronghold lid is slightly more leak-resistant (but not as leakproof as the Owala or Brümate). The high-set handle and tapered bottom keep this large mug cupholder-friendly, too. But you’re stuck with only 20- and 30-ounce options, so it’s probably not going to be the top pick for pour-over and espresso machine users.
Yeti Rambler Mug
When it comes to capacity, Yeti’s Rambler Mug collection does offer the more coffee-friendly array of options, with 10-, 14-, and 24-ounce sizes. The downside is that none are cupholder compatible, and all come with the Magslider lid which isn’t ideal, especially when the leaking liquid is extremely hot coffee. The handle wasn’t the most ergonomic either, but if you’re camping, hanging out at the beach, or using one of these on your desk, they’re great at being mugs without looking like giant water jugs.
Yeti Rambler with Hotshot Cap
Yeti’s Hotshot Cap essentially turns its water bottles into hot beverage-ready travel mugs. The lid can be twisted to an open or closed position, and then you can drink from any part of the rim. When sealed tight, this makes it the most leakproof of the Yeti mugs we tested. But similar to the Miir 360, it leaves too much room for human error when relying on that seal to keep the contents of a backpack protected from drops and spills. Yeti bottles are also not designed as universally cupholder compatible, but with this one, you may get lucky.
Stanley AeroLight Transit Bottle
This bottle-style tumbler may come closest to Zojirushi, with its excellent heat insulation and leakproof, flip-up lid that snaps securely in place. However, the lid is difficult to open without using two hands and it can also get in the way of your nose when sipping. Cleaning is a little trickier; it took us a while to figure out that the locking mechanism pops out, not as separate pieces but enough to get a thorough cleaning inside your dishwasher. (Unlike the Zojirushi, it’s dishwasher safe, so while not as completely immune to leaks and drips, it’s a trade-off worth considering.)
Brümate Müv
Take everything we liked about the Brümate Nav, add a handle, and you get the Müv. It has all the same features, but also comes in a smaller 15-ounce size which we found more convenient for a single cup of coffee, though we also found it didn’t retain heat as well as the larger sizes. The handle also means the smaller size may not be cupholder compatible, but the taller Müv models should work for a typical cupholder. Another feature of the lid we found we liked over time, which wasn’t immediately apparent on the handleless Nav, is that instead of utilizing a threaded, screw-on system, there are eight notches around the lid and eight bumps inside the cup which allow you to easily adjust the sipping spout. This is ideal for both right- and left-handed users to position the lid how they wish, and also means if you like to hold your mug at an angle other than 90 degrees from your face, you can. Like the Nav, most colors are completely dishwasher safe, but double check the description if that feature is important to you.
Miir 360 Traveler
For sheer design aesthetics, we wanted to love this slim and compact mug with its minimalist push-button top that takes up nearly the entire lid, leaving just a sippable crevice all the way around. The only issue we had is that, due to its monochrome, minimalist design, it was difficult to tell if the lid was in the open or closed position. When absent-mindedly tossing your cup into your bag, this can spell disaster. The lid doesn’t disassemble in a way that satisfies our desire for thoroughly cleaned parts, though it is completely dishwasher safe. And we also found that, unlike the Stanley AeroLight, the Miir would often hold onto a few residual drops of coffee after closing, so while it was leakproof when closed, it wasn’t drip-free.
Miir Flip Traveler
Similar to the 360, the flip-top lid creates a reliably leakproof seal and the container itself is great at keeping coffee hot. The main issue we had was, like the Stanley AeroLight and Fellow Carter Slide, the lid gets in the way when drinking and, because the underside comes into contact with your coffee, sometimes leaves a little drop on your nose, too.
Snowpeak Kanpai Bottle
Considering its price, we expected more from this bottle which, in its own way, tries to do a lot. It comes with three lids: one for sipping hot liquids and one for storing hot liquids, plus a re-freezable lid for chilling a 12-ounce beverage. It’s lightweight but still has fantastic heat retention; however, the lids leak. Our test included leaving sealed tumblers upside-down for 30 minutes, and every single one left a puddle on the counter.
Klean Kanteen Wide Double-Walled Mug with Leakproof Café Cap
Like the Stanley AeroLight, we have very few negative things to say about Klean Kanteen’s double-walled mug. It has a truly leakproof cap, along with the ability to fully dissemble it. It’s dishwasher safe, and carries a lifetime warranty. But we found the lid mechanism, like the AeroLight, required two hands to open, making it less than ideal for sipping on the go.
Oxo Good Grips Travel Coffee Mug With Leakproof SimplyClean Lid
Given its reputation for quality, user-friendly products, we expected (and got) a quality, leakproof, and dishwasher-safe mug from Oxo. What we didn’t get was a very user-friendly lid which, while it does come apart completely for thorough cleaning, requires some clunky and convoluted reassembly steps. There are other dishwasher-safe tumblers on this list with lids that are much easier to use.
Hydro Flask Stainless Steel Reusable Mug
We like the range of colors and sizes (as small as 6 ounces) and the traditional coffee cup feel of this mug, but it lacks cupholder compatibility in any of its sizes and only sports a splash-proof lid that doesn’t seal completely. Plus, unlike some of Hydro Flask’s other containers, these are not dishwasher safe.
Fellow Carter Slide Mug
If we’re grading purely on looks, this streamlined thermal mug with a ceramic-lined interior and one-handed sliding lid (that’s also leakproof) is stunning. As a hot drink container, it certainly delivers on keeping coffee warm; however, we found its unique lid design kept smooshing against our noses when drinking from it, and we found there was always residual coffee left in the cup that just couldn't be tipped out with the lid on. While the container portion of the mug didn’t hold onto stains and smells, we found the lid did smell like coffee after cleaning. If you’re switching up what liquids you’re putting inside, this may be an unwelcome problem.
Fellow Carter Move Mug
Unlike the Slide, consider this to be more of a coffee transporter than a travel mug. You can drink from its open-mouth design, which includes a removable splash guard (we liken the experience to sipping from a soda can). But the screw-on lid requires two hands to open and close, making it less than ideal for taking quick sips while driving. With its open design, if you hit a speed bump, coffee splashes out every time. In its defense, with the lid on tight, this kept coffee satisfyingly hot for nearly 24 hours. So, if you’re taking your cup to-go but not drinking it until you get to your destination, this could be a winner.
Kinto Day Off Travel Tumbler
This is another beautiful travel mug that does the job of keeping drinks hot and preventing leaks when fully sealed shut. We also liked that the two-piece lid—a sipping portion and a separate handled cap—comes off from the base for easy pouring into the container. However, the Japanese houseware brand’s form can’t overcome its functionality issues as an on-the-go mug, which include two-handed operation to open, and having to hang onto the cap in your spare hand while you drink.
Thermos Icon Mug with Slide Lock Lid
If affordability in a car commuter cup is your main goal, there’s a lot to like about Thermos’ mug with its high-set handle (retaining cupholder compatibility) and respectable heat retention. Plus, it’s got a rubber base to absorb accidental nudges, a possible issue due to its slightly top-heavy design. But the sliding lock lid is nowhere near leakproof; it just keeps coffee from fully splashing out when closed. Overall, the mug is durable and dishwasher safe. It’s not perfect but it’s practical.
Ello Campy Vacuum Insulated Travel Mug with Leakproof Slider Lid
We love the old-school, speckled enamelware aesthetic of this mug, which holds heat well and is generally leakproof (but not commuter bag approved). The cork-lined handle has a nice feel, though it may dissuade you from cleaning it in the dishwasher which, while not recommended by the manufacturer, is possible. But a scan through reviews from longer-term users found durability issues cited often enough that we wouldn’t recommend this one for daily wear and tear.
KeepCup Brew Cork
We like a brand that keeps things relatively crunchy, and this cork-banded glass cup offers an elegant version of that. However it’s not insulated, so it loses heat too quickly compared to the competition, while also feeling hot anywhere but the cork grip. Plus, it leaks, so it’s really more of a desk or office cup than something we’d want to take on a walk.
Stojo Collapsible Cup
If you’re really tight on space and want to be able to crush your coffee cup down to about the size of a can of tuna when not in use, then this is the mug for you. OK, so it’s more of a cup you would have in your bag for an “in case of” situation than it is a daily commuter cup. It does work for coffee, but it’s not insulated, so don’t expect leisurely sips to still be warm hours later. Our main gripe is with the number of parts this cup comes with and must be kept track of in order to use it.
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