The Best Travel Mugs: 4 Mugs that are Perfect for Camping and Travel
A good, reliable travel mug is a beautiful thing. Not just because they keep your hot beverages hot and your cold beverages cold for hours and hours wherever you go, but because they help reduce waste when you use them instead of disposables at your favorite local coffee shop, gas station or campsite. But if you really want to step up your sustainability game, forgo the cheap vessels that might last for a year if you’re lucky and snag a more reliable and eco-friendly alternative that creates less waste, leaves a lighter footprint, and looks good doing it! Here are 4 camp mugs that are as sustainable as they are functional.
Sustainable Camp Mugs
Wacaco Octaroma: The Travel-Ready One
One of my favorite mugs for home, camping and travel is this unique little number: the Wacaco Octaroma. Instead of being round, it’s octagonal, so doesn’t roll around on the floor of the car or the camp kitchen box. Plus, it just looks cool. And it’s available in some fun brights and neutrals. It’s vacuum sealed and doubled walled, keeps drinks hot, and the lid screws on securely and features a little silicone stopper that makes it leak-proof. The mugs come in three sizes: 6oz (my favorite for strong espresso-based drinks like flat whites and cortados), 10oz and 15oz. You can even get them custom engraved.
Ding: The sustainability chops are lacking, but it’s impressively durable.
MiiR Wide Mouth: The Versatile Sipper
This tall vessel designed for coffee as much as water is our favorite multi-functional bottle. Most days, we use it with the Chug Cap to stay hydrated. But we can swap out the leakproof 360 lid for sipping hot beverages from anywhere around the rim. They’re available in 16oz, 20oz, and 32oz. There’s also a give code on the bottom of every vessel so you can log on to the MiiR website and choose an organization for the brand to donates to on your behalf. MiiR is also Climate Label Certified, a B-Corp, and a 1% for the Planet member. Bonus: the bottles fit in cupholders and backpack pockets with ease.
Ding: With the 360 lid you are putting your mouth on the rim where your hands twist the cap, which may not appeal to everyone.
VSSL Rift: The Ultra Durable One
Looking for an insulated travel mug that’s practically bomb-proof and is guaranteed not to spill all over you, your car, or your backpack? The VSSL Rift is for you. It fits in a cup holder, has a removable non-slip silicone cap on the bottom, is made of recycled stainless steel, features a removable leather and a built-in carabiner loop for hands-free carry, and it fits beautifully in the hand. But maybe most importantly, it has a seriously leak-proof lid: you have to give it a little twist to pop it open and lock it closed again.
Ding: It’s on the heavy side for a travel mug.
Klean Kanteen Camp Mug: The One with a Handle
Klean Kanteen has long been known for their efforts to reduce waste from single-use products, but now they’re stepping up their sustainability game with camp mugs and cups made of 90% recycled stainless steel to further reduce their footprint (by 40%, in fact)! Our favorite? The new Camp Mug 12oz with an eye-catching mountainscape etched into the enamel coating (you can get it sans mountains, too, but honestly, why would you?), but there is a whole line of Klean Kanteen vessels and straws made of the 90% recycled stainless, so if this one is not your jam, you’re sure to find another. Might we recommend the Insulated TKWide 16oz with Twist Cap (another of our fave travel mugs). And this is more of a camp mug than a travel mug: this model doesn’t fit in cupholders. Bonus: Klean Kanteen is Certified Climate Neutral.
Ding: The lid isn’t leak-proof and it doesn’t fit in a cup holder.
Bottom Line
Which is your favorite travel or camp mug? Let us know in the comments! Then get out there, keep your beverages toasty, and wander on.
