Yeti Rambler Vacuum Mug: More Than Tough Enough

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we like things rugged. We like our trees tall, our rivers wild, our mountains steep and our oceans numbingly cold. The kinds of products that are popular around here—think Subarus, Columbia Sportswear, FJÄLLRÄVEN gear, and Thule car-roof racks—they all reinforce the mystique of outdoor adventure, even if most of the time we are just driving our Outbacks down to the local Freddy’s*. (We actually own two Toyotas, but there are a lot of Subarus around here!)

I don’t fully buy into this mystique, of course, and I’m obviously exaggerating (a little). But you can’t live here for long and not feel the pull of the outdoors. And even though I’m not a mountain climber or hard-core backpacker, I do have a lot of Columbia Sportswear clothes. The tough-as-nails, you-could-drop-this-thing-from-the-summit-of-Mount-Hood Yeti Rambler Vacuum Mug (14 oz.) is a perfect fit for the Northwest lifestyle, and so it naturally appealed to me.

Just look at this thing. This mug has an attitude. Its sturdy kitchen-grade 18/8 stainless steel construction is designed to resist the worst rough-and-tumble that camping can throw at it. Double-wall vacuum insulation means hot things stay hot and cold things stay cold.

The extra-wide flat handle is, according the Yeti website, “comfortable for wider hands, so you can fit your mitts fully around your morning joe.” This is about as macho as a mug can be. At $24.99 it’s not exactly cheap, but this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for, in the positive sense.

So where I am going to use this testosterone-infused drinking implement? In my office, naturally! You see, I’ve been on sort of a quest to find the perfect insulated coffee mug. When I’m working, I’m often concentrating so much that sip-to-sip intervals get quite long. With a regular mug, the coffee gets cold before I have a chance to fully inject my work day with that much-needed morning jolt of caffeine.

I’ve tried a few other types of mugs and tumblers- even those clever ones that look like a ceramic version of a coffee shop take-out cup. They either didn’t insulate well enough or made the coffee taste funny or both.

In the Yeti, however, I think I have found my Holy Grail. If it’s not the grail, then it’s damn close, anyway. The double-wall vacuum insulation along with a snug-fitting lid means I can sip my coffee all morning long with only a gradual decrease in beverage temperature. And while it does eventually cool, I am finding I can drink at a satisfying temperature for well over an hour. Not too shabby. And the best part is…the coffee still tastes like coffee.

If the mug has a weak point, and I hesitate to say it really does, it’s probably the lid. I’m pretty sure that with its plastic construction, it wouldn’t survive a fall from the summit of Mount Hood. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty tough plastic and should survive most camping ordeals intact. In my office, it’s not likely to encounter any falling boulders, either.

I only have one real gripe and I can hardly fault Yeti, but I’m going to complain anyway. Only right-handed people get to see the mug’s best face when drinking. The side with the uber-slick sharp-edged embossed logo only shows when you face the handle to the right. Drinking left-handed means I get the considerably duller stamped body-color logo. Not a deal-breaker but another reminder that I live in a right-handed world. Sigh.

Overall, the Yeti Rambler Vacuum Mug is a terrific addition to my daily routine. I would heartily recommend it to campers and cubicle dwellers alike.

Matt

* “Freddy’s” is the common nickname for Fred Meyer department stores, a Pacific Northwest icon. The stores started out in Portland 96 years ago, and now are found along the Pacific coast from southern Oregon to Alaska.

All outdoor photos except Mt. Hood taken along the east fork of the Lewis River in Clark County, WA, June 6, 2018. Indoor photos taken in the considerably less rugged environments of my kitchen and office.

Matt Strieby June 7, 2018 coffee mugs for geeks