One mug or two?

Well its Monday, and my tea mug broke today :(  Just the handle, so it's still kinda usable.  Now my walk from the kitchen to my cubicle is just that much more of an adventure. 

Tea Mug

Growing up, my Mom was always a tea lady and my Dad was always Mr. Coffee.  All summer you could find a nice, cool fresh brewed pitcher of tea in the fridge as well as a steaming hot pot of coffee every morning.  The only thing you had to remember was to use the CORRECT mug for each beverage.  According to my mother, coffee smells wonderful but tastes terrible and has the tendency to dominate whatever to-go cup or mug you decide to pour yourself, so please use the coffee mugs for coffee and my tea mugs for tea - or else.  She even went so far as to have separate mug shelves (my dad is not so great at remembering details like this, so a convenient shelf he knew he could use helped greatly), and, of course, the coffee shelf was always overflowing while the tea shelf was always half empty - once its been coffee-d there's no going back.  

At home, I have a favorite mug that really I use for everything - coffee, tea, smoothie and so far, I have no problems with any cross pollination.  My to-go mug, however, is decidedly coffee'd. It doesn't matter how much milk and sugar I add to my tea, it always has that gross coffee aftertaste, so its now exclusively used just for home-brewed java.  I debated getting a fancy tea to-go brew mug, you know, the kind that has the tea infuser attached? but last winter I settled for detours to my local coffee shop for a $1.65 any size Irish Tea that is the perfect company for my often frigid walk to work.  This winter? We shall see....

Coffee mug

My office coffee is not great and I decided early on that I'd need a mug for coffee and a mug for tea.  Its always freezing at my desk and tea breaks throughout the afternoon are a must, as well as the usual cup or two of coffee all morning long.  Having the separate cups certainly improves the flavors - especially the tea.  Plus, for whatever reason, when I brew my cup of coffee in the mug, it finishes with a nice foamy layer on the top, giving it a much tastier look than in Styrofoam.  Its a win-win. 

p.s.  This is how B handled the heat this weekend...