Buying paper or plastic mugs is a habit that people should break. It kills the planet. You can’t reuse these mugs and the constant need for new ones is bad for the environment.

If you’ve ever tried reusing your disposable coffee mugs you’ll find that after two to three uses your coffee tastes like whatever material your mug is made of—and that’s usually not good.

Plastic mugs suffer from the same taste degradation over time, it’s not just paper. Many kinds of plastic start leeching chemicals into the liquids they contain. Even if we assumed this is not harmful to your health (I really hope it isn’t!), it still affects the taste of your coffee in a bad way. Personally, I decided to banish plastic mugs from my life and even bring a nice ceramic mug camping these days.

Now, if you’re wondering about metal coffee mugs, do they affect coffee taste in the same way? Unfortunately they suffer from similar problems—once the coating on the metal wears off I found my coffee started developing a musty and oddly metallic taste. Not good…

(Also I don’t want to know why it didn’t taste like that initially I guess the coating must’ve dissolved in my coffee and I drank it? Well, maybe I got lucky and it happened while cleaning instead. Anyway, not a great experience at all.)

Like many computer programmers I drink a lot of coffee (and I love it). I eventually came to accept that ceramic is the only material that doesn’t affect the taste of my coffee in a bad way.

Ceramic bowl is an inorganic and nonmetallic material that hardly reacts with anything. And this makes it perfect for coffee snobs like me. When it comes to reuse the great news about ceramic mugs is that—if you don’t break them by letting them fall on the floor—they pretty much last forever. And they don’t make your coffee taste like papery crap.

I also think that owning a kick ass coffee mug enhances the creative process for software developers. I found that it helps if the appearance of your coffee mug speaks to you in some way.

Author and software developer (and now the VP of Engineering at Slack!) Rands shares this sentiment:

“A great cup of coffee is not just a gorgeous caffeine administration vehicle; it’s part of your creative posse.” — Rands in Repose, VP of Engineering at Slack

I love this quote. A great coffee mug for hackers and coders needs character. It needs to have personality. Whenever I sit down in the morning to take the first sip from one of my gorgeous coffee mugs made here at Nerdlettering, it feels awesome.

Reaching for the mug. Holding the cup in my hand, filled to the brim with hot beautiful coffee… Feeling the weight. Stopping for a moment to savor that feeling and getting ready to start the day.

Paper mugs just don’t create the same experience for me.

Hot Paper Cups vs. Ceramics Mugs

Both coffee and tea are favorite beverages consumed extensively in many places worldwide. Pass by any restaurant, and you will see crowds enjoying the drinks either in pairs or fours. There are those that love it in a ceramic mug and others that prefer hot paper cups. The containers have a double layer of insulation to protect your fingers from the hot tea or coffee. This wall also keeps the drink warm for a long time while also providing you with a comfortable grip on the cup. What gives paper cups an edge over ceramic cups?

No harmful effect on the environment

Paper decomposes and does not degrade the environment. With environmental watchdogs piling pressure on governments to act on global warming, using eco-friendly packaging material resonates with good practices. On its part, a ceramic plate if it breaks and falls out of use, will end up in a landfill where it can stay intact for decades. If disposed of in recyclable material bins, wasted hot paper cups will most certainly turn into a new cup or another product.