USB Cup Warmer

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Julie

February 27, 2004

Product Requirements:
Device:
PC or MAC with a USB 1.1 or 2.0 port

I'm a tea drinker and have been since I came out of the womb. My mom would fix us hot tea every morning for breakfast (good old Lipton) and we would then have iced tea for supper. It's no wonder that now, every morning at about 8:30am, I make myself a cup of hot tea. It doesn't matter if it's Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, my day wouldn't be complete without a cup of tea. The thing is though, I'm a sipper, not gulper. By the time I drink the last drop, my hot tea has turned into cold tea... bleh! So, when Brando sent me the USB Cup Warmer, I was anxious to see if it might keep my tea warm to the last drop.

The USB Cup Warmer is a black stretchy neoprene 11.5 inch wrap with a 38 inch USB cable extending out of one end. A 2.5 inch cutout to allow for a coffee cup handle is located on one end of the wrap. The idea is that you slide the cup handle through the cutout, then pull the wrap around the cup, where it is held in place with Velcro. In practice, the wrap fit my standard sized mug perfectly snug.

You then plug the USB connector into a free USB 1.1 or 2.0 port on your PC or MAC computer, where it will draw enough power to warm the wrap and the cup that it is enclosing. By the way, it's a good idea to put the wrap on before you fill the cup up with boiling hot water. Wrestling with the wrap while the cup is full, is a good way to spill hot water on your hand... ouch!

The Cup Warmer does not require a driver or any special computer settings. As long as you plug it directly into a free USB port and not a hub (unless you have a powered hub), it should be a simple matter of plug and play.

Of course, I wasn't going to believe the colorful chart printed on the packaging, which said that the wrap would maintain the temperature of a hot beverage at 40°C (104°F) after one hour, I had to see for myself. So, I washed up my favorite mug, filled a tea ball full of Orange Pekoe, put a kettle of water on the stove and waited for it to boil...

You know the old saying: a watched pot never boils... It seems to be true!

 

Of course, it finally did boil. After which point, I poured the boiling water in the cup, and let the tea steep for 3 minutes.

When the 3 minutes were up, I used a cooking thermometer to check the temperature.

I recorded the reading, set the timer for 5 minutes and continued to record readings at 5 minute intervals.

For the first test, I didn't plug the Cup Warmer into the computer. On the 2nd test I did.

Here are the results. The test was done in a 74° room.

Time Elapsed	Beverage temperature (Fahrenheit) without Cup Warmer plugged into USB port	Beverage temperature (Fahrenheit) with Cup Warmer plugged into USB port	Actual impression of temperature
Begin	160°	160°	Scalding
5min	152°	148°	Very hot
10min	142°	138°	Hot
15min	131°	131°	Very warm*
20min	122°	125°	Warm
25min	112°	120°
30min	107°	117°
35min	102°	113°
40min	98°	110°
45min		107°
50min		105°
55min		103°
1hr		101°

* optimal drinking temperature (for me anyway...)

As you can see from the readings, when the wrap wasn't plugged in, the temperature dropped approximately 10 degrees every 5 minutes during the first 25 minutes. However, when the wrap was plugged in, the temperature dropped at a slower pace. True to the packaging, the wrap kept the liquid at approximately 104° (or 101° in my test) after 1 hour.

Here's the thing though... 101° is not really all that warm. At least it doesn't seem very warm to me. Maybe lukewarm.

Another consideration is the length of the USB cable. People that have their USB ports on the back of their desktop machines will probably be unable to drink from the cup without pulling the cable out of the PC. Notebook users will have a much easier time though. I would prefer if this product was a hot plate type of warmer instead. That way you could just set your cup on a heated base and lift it off when you needed a sip.

The USB Cup Warmer is a novelty more than anything. Although it will keep your beverage somewhat warmer for a longer period of time, it's up to you to decide if warm is warm enough.

 

Price: $10

Pros:
Use for USB port other than something computer related
Inexpensive
Plug and play

Cons:
101 - 104° really isn't that warm