I drink coffee normally. When I drink at home, I make it via a drip coffee machine (these day it’s a Moccamaster) and have it black. I try to get beans that drink well black so that’s usually what I do. I say this upfront because it matters? It’s a weird coffee person thing but while many little details matter, some also don’t. So it doesn’t matter which beans I use, or how finely it’s grounded, or if I freshly grind or not. The brewing method does, because as you’ll see the starting temp when it hits the cup does, in Burnout’s case.

So Ember is this brand of coffee (or tea or whatever) mugs that have an active heating element built into the cup at the bottom. It’s not unlike other coffee mugs that you can plug into a power source and keep warm, but it’s “smart” in that it can connect to your phone via app and bluetooth, and you can set the temperature to keep warm at, for how long, and other misc functions. I have had one since around 2021 when working remotely became a fixture of my life. Since I’m at my desk most of the day I put it in the charging dock so the coffee can keep at the same temp all day. By itself the battery runs out in about 90ish minutes, but now after much use it’s probably barely 60 minutes? Anyways, it’s on the dock most of the time when it’s being used so the battery life is not important.

It’s a known entity, so much so that I got it from Costco? Well, only after my dad microwaved my first mug and the battery inside (2 of them, smaller than AAA, fwiw) exploded. The first mug I got online since I guess the smartphone functionality was kind of subpar in terms of working well. And, yes, kids, don’t microwave either the Ember or the Burnout.

The Burnout is the only competing product in the category that I think is worth trying. It is also a coffee mug, but more specifically it’s made of heat shield ceramics that is designed to absorb heat above a certain temperature and keep at that temperature by releasing heat it absorbed. Well, that doesn’t sound that fancy if you realize any o’ cup or mug does this. Some fancy drip brewers even tell you to warm up the carafe with hot water before using, for more or less the same reason. What is different about Burnout is that it can actually do this in a credible way now that I have tested it. it’s also different from many of the plain thermos and hot water bottles that it isn’t purely trying to insulate as well as it can, since freshly brewed coffee at like 180F is only about 170F after an hour in my Cinderella Girls thermos (circa 2015, made in China, purchased in Japan) and that’s still too hot to drink.

In contrast, when I put it in the Ember or the Burnout it would be drinkable in less than 10 minutes (150F). In Ember’s case it’ll remain at the temp I set it at (like 140 usually) for hours on end until its power saving kicks in and shut off. In the Burnout, well, I didn’t measure it, but it is drinkable in the same or maybe even less. What’s more important to note is that the Burnout does keep it warm up to 4 hours later, even if at a tepid 90-100F at that point.

The marketing for the Burnout says its some rocket heat tile technology, and it seems right, but making an insulation that behave this way is not rocket science anymore, so the one piece of science was tweaking the mug material that it does this functional cutover from absorption to retention of heat, and figuring out the formula in the physical, testing it, etc.

Which is to say the Burnout is still mainly a classic heat retainer/insulator. It is sold with a plastic lid that has rubber connectors. It is important that you use this lid to keep your drink warm, because without it, it behaves not unlike a normal cup. Which is also to say, if you want to A/B test the Burnout you need to try it with a normal tumbler.

The Ember doesn’t need this at all, naturally. And yes you can see rings of black in my Ember mug as coffee evaporates, lol.

So, is it worth it? I think you can get an Ember pretty cheaply now, so if you drink a lot of coffee and is serious about that experience, it’s a worthwhile buy. I mean I use mine nearly every workday and even on some off days, unless I am traveling. Even if it’s a very mild lifestyle improvement I got so much use out of it that the $100 or whatever I paid felt well worth the price. (It was more like $180 since I had to buy 2 because one blew up, but anyway.)

I bought the Burnout (version 1) for about $38 during a sale. I don’t think it’s worth more than that. It’s really just a thermally insulated mug that is much more suitable for normal weekday coffee drinking at the office desk. If you’re not doing this scenario, it might not be a good buy.

In terms of other small details, both Ember (v2) and Burnout (v1) have a tapered base, which I’m not a huge fan of, as it’s not the most stable to handle. It’s OK on a flat surface, but it’s more about handling. Neither are very travel-friendly, although I think you can buy a travel version of the Ember and the new Burnout has a cylindrical shape that is more stable, and it has a metallic exterior which is more grip friendly.

I feel like the Ember is versatile if you can get it to work correctly, so much so that it’s worth it if you drink a lot of hot beverages in a setting where you’re not always making more, if that makes sense. It’s nice to be able to use it to heat up a drink also. I’m not sure how the Burnout will work out exactly outside of its most common use case, other than as a fancy and kinda heavy mug. It’s made in the USA, so maybe that means something.