We’ve all been there, as you sip away on your morning coffee or tea it continues to get colder and colder until you suffer through the final cold sips. You don’t want to keep getting up to rewarm your mug o’ Joe, you can’t sip it fast enough to prevent it from cooling off, and no waitress is stopping by to do it for you. What to do? Deal with it? You might be thinking, “Just use an insulated coffee tumbler.” Sure. But those are heavy, and can be a pain to clean with their complicated sip-through caps, you can’t microwave most of them, and we all just love our favorite lightweight ceramic coffee mug. Enter the Felibeaco Electric Coffee Warmer, a.k.a. Mug Warmer.
Review
While many brands of coffee mug warmers exist, and all have varying but similar features, the brand I tested was Felibeaco.
The Felibeaco Electric Coffee Warmer seemed to surpass the myriad of others with its generous 36 watts of power compared to the more common 20 watts. It also has 6 temperature presets compared to many brands’ measly 3 presets, 12 different delay timer settings (1-12 hours) which turn it off automatically, an easy to read lighted temperature and timer readout, a large 4.4” x 4.2” heated surface, a silicone mat with a center cutout for a standard coffee mug. Plus you can remove the sleeve to fit your soup bowl. It is available in 3 colors: white, black, and wood grain.
In my tests, the Felibeaco performed very well in keeping my coffee pleasantly warm. With a gentle press of the power button (and a quick confirmation with a soft, gentle beep), the default temperature setting of 130°F reads on the display. I found this temperature to be a touch too cool for my preferences. I experimented and found that 160°F works best for me. Thankfully, the 6 presets let you pick up to an impressive 50-degree available variance (130°F -180°F, in 10-degree increments), something not found in many of the other available brands. Even the pickiest sippers will find a setting that suits them.
Is it Accurate?
Well, here’s where we have to knock a point or two. But unlike with food, grills, smokers, and thermometers, here’s a case where temperature accuracy doesn’t matter. What? Heresy! Read on.
I poured a single cup from my coffee maker, and my trusty Thermapen ONE instant-read thermometer (yep, they’re handy for more than just meat!) showed my coffee was 155°F average in a standard ceramic mug starting from room temp. I placed the full cup on the warmer at the 150°F setting. In 30 minutes the coffee had cooled down to an average of 125°F. Uh-oh! But it still seemed fine when I took a sip, plenty hot for me. But it didn’t keep it at the stated 150°F.
I then increased it to its max setting, 180°F, and let the now-125°F coffee sit another 30 minutes.
Analysis
While the mug seemed hotter to my hand, to my surprise it only increased 3 degrees to an average of 128°F. The reason is simple; ceramic coffee mugs typically have an indent on the bottom, allowing only the outer rim of your mug’s base to make full contact with the heated surface, preventing heat transfer to your mug’s contents. Given enough time it would heat the contents further, such as if you were at your desk most of the morning. Does any of this really matter? In a word, nope.
We do not drink coffee at specific temperatures. When was the last time you ordered coffee at 160°F or 140°F? Prior to reading this, did you have any idea of the actual temperature your coffee usually is? We’re wagering no. In reality, over 120°F could burn your skin, it’s the standard top limit of what your water heater should be set at according to the pros, so anything above that is still plenty hot and satisfying for coffee. Precision here is arguably useless, the temp settings might as well mimic a toaster with simplistic 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. instead of temperatures.
With meat and other foods temperature does matter. Click here to read more about food safety and temperatures (get yourself Meathead’s 8.5” x 11” Comprehensive Food Temperature Guide Magnet, which retails for $9.95, for free when you join our Pitmaster Club).
How Much Does This Cost to Operate?
I won’t bore you with all the math, but at 36 watts on its max setting of 180°F, used a generous 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, we’re looking at less than $1 for a whole month’s (160 hours) use. If you use it less than 40 hours per week, well then your cost is even less, perhaps only pennies per month. In any case, it’s negligible.
Is It Safe for Desk or Table Surfaces?
It does get rather warm underneath the warmer. For instance, after I had increased the warmer to its max of 180°F, after 30 minutes the area of my desktop directly under the warmer heated up to 126°F, according to my ThermoWorks IRK-2 Infrared Thermometer. The Internet, through various searches, seems to agree that most wood desk and tabletop finishes can tolerate past 120°F, and up to 200°F, before we see much risk of potential problems. So this heat transfer downward likely won’t matter in real-world scenarios. If you sit at a treasured piece of antique furniture, you may want to have your warmer elsewhere, or at least place it atop a protective barrier such as a coaster.
Will It Heat up Cold Liquids?
It is not designed to heat up cold or cool liquids, it is designed to keep warm liquids warm. Still, I tested this, because that’s what we do here. I placed a standard 12-ounce ceramic coffee mug with 8 ounces of room temperature (70°F) water on the unit and turned it on to its max 180°F setting. After 30 minutes the water measured 106°F. This is rather lukewarm and not pleasant for coffee. Sure, you could give it even more time, but I think this illustrates what it will do well and what it’s not designed to do.
Size
The Felibeaco Electric Coffee Warmer measures an overall 4.75” wide x 6” long with a height of only 7/8“. It has 4 small rubber feet located at each corner to grip your desk or tabletop. It plugs into a standard 120-volt AC outlet with a 2-prong plug and a cord that is 4.5 feet (54”) long.
The included removable color-matched silicone mat allows you to place a standard mug on top while protecting the remainder of the hot surface from papers or a toddler’s curious fingers. Remove it, and you have enough surface area for that bowl of chili to sit on. The instruction booklet nicely outlines its capabilities and directions for use.
The Felibeaco model that I tested retails for $29.99 at the time of testing, which is pricier than similar devices. But the extra power; extra auto-off delay settings; gently audible button press beeps; number screen; an overall attractive, simplistic design; and ease of use justify the premium price.
I award the Felibeaco Electric Coffee Mug Warmer our Gold Medal for its ease and range of use, power level, and feature set.
