Let me tell you something about this beauty on the left here.  His name is JOEmo (or JoEmo, if you’re Soy), and he is the best travel mug I have ever owned.

Finding a truly leak-proof travel mug has been one of my quests for a long time.  I’ve tried Shane’s trusty Starbucks mug with the sealing top, which was then tossed in a Ziploc bag to avoid backpack spillage.  We’ve owned mugs from each of our workplaces, and a mug from Espresso Royale, all three of which have dribbled on both of us at various times.  Shane’s been really happy with his I am Not a Paper Cup mug, which has while aesthetically pleasing and spill proof in non-mobile situations, but is still not bag-safe or spill proof for my commute.

See, I take the Metro in to work every morning.  On the Metro, you are not allowed to eat or drink.  This means that if I make coffee at home in the morning, I can drink it in the car on the way to the train, but not on the train itself, so by the time I get to work, my coffee is cold, and I’m tempted to go next door and buy coffee, thus negating the time and money savings created by making coffee at home.

Enter JOEmo (JoEmo).

When I was in Illinois two weeks ago, I found myself killing some time at Art Mart while waiting to meet a friend for dinner.  And then I found JOEmo, which is billed as a totally spill proof thermal mug.  You can turn it upside down!  It will keep your stuff warm for up to 6 hours!  Sucked in by the hype, I picked it up, and had a long discussion with the clerk about it.  Is it really spill and dribble proof?  Yes, she said, unless you over fill it.  Have people been bringing them back?  No, she said.  The only complaint is that it’s a little hard to clean.

And you know what?  It works.  For two weeks I’ve been carrying the thing around in my bag, full of coffee, half full of coffee, with the dregs of coffee sloshing around in it.  The only spills have occurred when either I overfilled the mug – didn’t she warn me? – or when I’ve left it on the ground with the top popped and someone kicked it over.  In both of those cases, the spill was a result of human error, not of JOEmo error.  My coffee is hot, and my clothes are free of spills.  Thank you, JOEmo.