Frequently Asked Questions about bru travel mug

bru makes a ceramic-lined insulated travel mugs for people who care how their coffee tastes on the move. The inside is lined with ceramic so your drink tastes the way it should, with no metallic edge, while the outside is vacuum-insulated stainless steel that keeps drinks hot or cold for hours. bru Travel is a new product design funded on Kickstarter, and we're a small UK-run business, not a large corporate brand.

bru is designed in the UK and manufactured to our specification by a long-term partner in China. We've visited the factory floor and chosen them in part for their sustainable practices, including a fully solar-wrapped roof. bru cups are independently third-party tested by SGS.

Most travel mugs, including KeepCup, are not vacuum-insulated ceramic mugs. bru Travel is a new product design funded on Kickstarter and is the only travel mug we know of that combines double-walled vacuum insulation, an interior ceramic coating, a 360-degree drinking experience, and a concave lid design that stops your nose pressing against the lid, so your drink stays hot or cold for hours and tastes like it does from a proper ceramic mug. Most competitors only coat partway up the inside, leaving bare steel near the rim and threads, while ours is fully ceramic-lined, threads included. And most competitor lids don't come apart at all, so the seals can't be cleaned. A cup you can clean is a cup you can keep.

A ceramic travel mug has a ceramic-lined interior instead of bare stainless steel or plastic. The ceramic surface doesn't react with coffee or tea, so your drink keeps its natural taste with no metallic edge. The outer shell is still insulated stainless steel for heat retention.

Stainless steel interiors give coffee a metallic taste, especially with acidic drinks like espresso. Plastic absorbs odours and flavours over time and can leach into hot liquids. Ceramic is neutral, easy to clean, and keeps coffee tasting like coffee for the life of the cup.

If you buy takeaway coffee even twice a week, a reusable cup pays for itself in a few months thanks to coffee shop discounts. Most UK chains (Costa, Pret, Starbucks) take 25p to 50p off when you bring your own cup. Plus you stop adding to the 2.5 billion disposable cups thrown away in the UK every year.

Most people pick the 12oz / 340ml for a regular latte or americano. The 8oz / 230ml suits a flat white or espresso drinker. The 16oz / 455ml is for larger lattes and longer commutes. All three fit in a standard car cup holder.

Yes. Most UK coffee chains accept reusable cups, and most offer a discount of 25p to 50p per drink. Just hand it over before you order. bru is sized to fit standard takeaway cup sizes: 8, 12 and 16oz.

Stainless steel keeps drinks hot, but it can give coffee and tea a faint metallic edge that builds up over time. Nobody wants their flat white tasting vaguely of cutlery. Our ceramic lining is inert, so what you taste is your drink and nothing else. It also resists staining and lingering smells, which means your morning espresso doesn't haunt your afternoon herbal tea.

bru comes in three sizes: 8oz / 230ml for flat whites and espresso based drinks, 12oz / 340ml as the everyday size for coffee and tea, and 16oz / 455ml for longer trips and larger drinks. All three fit a standard car cup holder. It's available in a range of colours, Black, Green, Blue, Lilac and White with more colours on the way, see the product page for the full range, each with a durable matt powder-coated finish on the stainless steel body.

Up to 8 hours hot, up to 12 hours cold. Real-world performance depends on size and how often you open the lid for a hopeful sniff, with the 16oz holding heat longest, but it'll comfortably outlast your commute and most of your workday. The outer surface stays cool to the touch with no condensation.

Yes, 100% leakproof when the lid is closed. The lid has a visible indentation line that only shows when fully sealed, so you know it's safe to throw in a bag. Tip it sideways in a backpack or sling it in a pannier and it stays where it should. You may notice a couple of drops sitting in the lid recess after closing, which is normal and stays contained inside the lid itself. No mess, no laptop catastrophes, no apologies to whoever's sitting next to you.

You can sip from any side of the mug, not just one fixed spout. Sounds minor until you've tried to rotate a travel cup with one hand mid-meeting, or worse, while driving. It's the kind of detail you stop noticing because it just works, which is rather the point.

Our lid fully breaks apart and every seal is removable for deep cleaning. That's genuinely rare in this category. Most travel mug lids are sealed units, which means grime, oils and old coffee residue quietly build up in places you can't reach, and frankly don't want to think about. The lid nose is also concave and ergonomic, so you can drink without first squashing your nose. Ours comes apart, cleans properly, and goes back together without a YouTube tutorial.

Yes. All three bru travel sizes (8oz, 12oz, 16oz) are designed to fit standard car cup holders, plus bike handle holders and rucksack side pockets. There's nothing quite like spending good money on a beautiful cup that then sits wedged at an angle on the passenger seat.

The cup body is 304-grade (18/8) food-grade stainless steel with a matt powder-coated finish. The inside, the part you drink from, is a sand-based ceramic coating (sol-gel) baked onto the steel, free from PFOA, PTFE and PFAS. The lid, including the internal cogs, is made entirely from BPA, BPS and phthalate-free polypropylene, and the base is food-grade anti-slip silicone. Every material that touches your drink is chosen to be safe, inert and built to last.

Yes, and we've gone further than most to prove it. We sent our actual bru Travel cups to SGS, one of the world's leading independent testing and certification bodies, for full third-party safety testing. They tested the complete cup including the ceramic coating, the stainless steel beneath, the lid and the silicone seals. The ceramic coating passed full EU heavy metal migration testing (Council of Europe Resolution CM/Res(2013)9) at 100 degrees Celsius with an acidic simulant, with no detectable migration of any of the 21 metals tested, including lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, mercury and arsenic. The stainless steel beneath was tested at 19.8% chromium content, exceeding the FDA minimum of 16% for food-grade stainless. The lid and silicone components passed FDA 21 CFR food contact testing too. So whether your coating is fully intact or has a small scratch, every surface that touches your drink has been independently tested and certified safe.

Yes. The lid is BPA, BPS and phthalate-free polypropylene, and bru is food-grade certified for both EU and US regulations. The ceramic interior is also free from PFOA, PTFE and PFAS.

The lid is top-rack dishwasher safe, or you can hand wash it. The cup itself is not dishwasher safe, as this damages the external powder coating, so hand wash the cup with warm soapy water and a soft brush or sponge. Please also avoid abrasive scourers on the ceramic interior, and don't microwave the cup.

The lid takes apart in three parts for a thorough clean, and the silicone rings are removable, so you can get into every part of it. The QR codes in your packaging link to a video walkthrough, and if you lose them just email us at info@bru-cups.com and we'll send it over. Because the lid disassembles, deep cleaning is a five-minute job rather than an act of faith.

Yes, and seal replacements are free for our customers, you just cover the postage. Lids and silicone parts are all available separately too, so a worn seal or a lost lid doesn't mean a new cup. Replaceable parts are core to how we design, not an afterthought, because the most sustainable cup is the one you already own.

UK shipping is free on orders over £25 [Standard UK delivery is £2.99 and takes 2-5 working days, we do offer next day delivery at £3.49 which is 1-3 working days.

Yes, we ship worldwide. For UK and US customers, all tariffs are included in the price you pay at checkout, so no surprise fees on delivery. Canadian customers also pay nothing extra on arrival. European customers will need to pay local import and customs fees before delivery, courtesy of a certain 2016 referendum. For other countries, please check your local import rules before ordering so there are no awkward surprises at the door.

Yes. We ship to all 50 US states. All tariffs and duties are included in the price at checkout, and there's no sales tax to add at the door. Most US orders arrive within 5 to 7 working days.

Absolutely. Once your order is shipped, you'll receive an email with tracking information. You can use this to follow your cup's journey and know exactly when to expect it at your door.

If something isn't right, get in touch within 30 days and we'll sort it. We'd rather hear from you and fix it than have you stuck with a cup you don't love. Life's too short for a travel mug you resent.

Yes. Every bru is covered by a 2 year warranty against manufacturing faults. The lid is tested to 10,000+ open-and-close cycles and the body is built to last 5+ years, so if something goes wrong that isn't normal wear and tear, we'll put it right.

We want every bru to be perfect, and on the rare occasion one isn't, we'll sort it quickly. We hold our cups to a high standard and have them independently tested by SGS, so we stand behind every one we sell. If your cup or lid has a fault, just email us at info@bru-cups.com with your order number and a photo, and we'll arrange a replacement straight away. No long forms, no hassle.

Yes, once you've used them enough times. A reusable stainless steel travel mug reaches its environmental break-even point at around 50 uses. After that, every coffee is a real saving against disposable cups. Used daily, one bru replaces hundreds of single-use cups every year.

A bru is built to last 5+ years of use. The body is 304 food-grade stainless steel and the lid is tested to 10,000 open-and-close cycles. A longer-lasting cup is a more sustainable cup, because it replaces more disposables over its life.

Yes. Stainless steel is widely recycled at household recycling centres and through scrap metal collection. The lid is made entirely from polypropylene, a single material with no mixed polymers, so the whole lid can be recycled as one part. The best thing you can do, though, is keep using it for as long as possible, which is exactly what it's designed for.

Stainless steel takes more energy to produce than paper or plastic, but it lasts for years and is endlessly recyclable. Across its full lifespan it has a far lower environmental impact than the stream of disposable cups it replaces.

Yes. We ship in recyclable packaging and keep it as minimal as possible. We don't always get it perfect, but we're honest about it and always working to reduce it further.