Enjoying a warm beverage on a cold day, or a cool one on a hot day, is a comfort and a treat for anybody. However, it seems like those warm drinks never stay warm long enough and the cool drinks melt too quickly to savor every last drop. Entrepreneur and inventor, Clay Alexander, recognized this inconvenience and began creating a solution. Today that solution is called the Ember Mug, which is a temperature-controlled travel mug—the first of its kind. After just one year of development and production, Ember was stocked at Starbucks and available for purchase through its own website and Amazon just in time for the 2016 holiday season.
The technological breakthrough this mug created is now inspiring more temperature-controlled innovative designs. The company plans to release a temperature-controlled baby bottle, dinner plate, and chilled water bottle as their next products. Although the mug’s higher price-point currently limits its customer base, the exciting new technology incites fresh hope for more than just the elite. Check out what this type of technology can mean for citizens as a whole.
How it Helps Elderly Patients
For the elderly, who either live in nursing homes or struggle with certain degenerative diseases, temperature-controlled dishware serves as a complete game-changer. No longer will these patients have to suffer through cold meals as they take longer to eat the food on their plates. With some temperature-controlled plates already on the market, many of the elderly have already been able to enjoy a warm meal from beginning to end—something many of them haven’t been able to do for decades.
Restaurant Adaptations
The quick pace of restaurant life is largely based around the ability to plate and serve a dish at the appropriate temperature. Sometimes there’s a mix-up, or one plate from a table was prepared too early and must be remade before all of the plates can be served together, which can create a lot of waste at these establishments. With temperature-controlled dishware, those costly minutes between readiness won’t make as big of an impact if the servers can keep it warm on the actual plate longer. Cooks also won’t have to prepare and serve a dish at a scalding temperature just to make sure it arrives to the table warm. With temperature-controlled dishware, cooks can adjust the plate temperature appropriate for the dish being served. Finally, restaurant guests will be able to relax and enjoy their evenings out as they won’t have to rush eating their meals.
Eliminates Reheating
With temperature-controlled mugs and other dishware, users no longer have to worry about reheating their favorite beverages and meals. They can just preset the device to the perfect temperature and savor as long as they want. Between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit bacteria starts to grow on food and in drinks. With temperature-controlled dishware, users can also set the temperature outside of that danger zone to prevent food-borne illness.
It will be exciting to watch how temperature-controlled dishware affects the lives of every-day citizens as it becomes more popular in the public setting. There are already several applications for this technology, with plenty more yet to be discovered. What started with a mug will one day launch a dishware revolution.