I am looking for a way to keep my coffee warmer longer. I am open to
either a special type of insulated cup or a chemical inside the cup
material that when agitated, will give out heat. I need to keep the
cup at a temperature of 150-180 F for a longer period of time.
Whatever the solution is, it MUST be disposable. Obviously cheaper
materials are more attractive, but at this stage I am just looking for
ideas.

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 03 May 2006 21:48 PDT

Hi!

This isn't disposable but its worth a shot.

http://www.kitchencollection.com/Temp_Products.cfm?sku=00328620&CFID=12290721&CFTOKEN=6b6841048361dc04-FDB84E3F-94D9-72E0-E77AC13C4CA70FAA

Is that ok?

---

Clarification of Question by funmoney-ga on 04 May 2006 14:16 PDT

No. The device needs to be disposable (as I state in the original question).

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 06 May 2006 06:53 PDT

funmoney-ga,

Can you tell us what set-up you're using now?  i.e., what type of cup
(material, sizes, brand name) with/without a lid, sleeve,
double-cupping, etc.

We can't offer improvements until we know what the baseline is.


pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by funmoney-ga on 06 May 2006 23:38 PDT

pafalafa, base line: starting at 160F, I would like to keep the
coffee/latte above 140 for a 40 minutes. thats about twice as long as
you can with any cup on the market, double cupping, lidding etc etc.
You could suggest a  use of new materials or a combination of existing
materials in some newer way to achieve the goal.

---

Clarification of Question by funmoney-ga on 06 May 2006 23:42 PDT

dan: thanks for the suggestion of using hand warmmers. That idea,
while a good one, hasnt worked because the desired temperature  for
most hot drinks - tea or latte is about 10-30 degrees higher
(150-160).  A different chemical than sodium acetate with similar
properties may do the trick perhaps?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 07 May 2006 11:47 PDT

Seems to me that a cup with a Mylar lining (a la Space Blankets) might
be your best bet.  The material is cheap enough to be disposable, and
quite possibly effective enough to meet your goals.

Also, I'm surprised at your comment about sodium acetate.  Although it
only heats to 130 degrees, it still should effectively slow down the
cooling of a hot cup of coffee, since the gradient is only 30 degrees
(160-130) rather than 80 degrees (160-room temp).  What sort of
experimentation have you tried here?

Are you in a position to fabricate and market a new sort of cup?  If
so, Mylar lining may be the way to go.

Whaddya think?

paf

put a lid on it.

The existing styrofoam cups may be the best solution available, even
though they are not as good as you wish.

If this is just for your personal use ("my coffee"), "disposable"
seems an unnecessary requirement.

No- it isnt for my personal use- I'm not that spoilt. But many people
find the enjoyment of their $4 cup latte reduced because it goes to
room temperature too quickly. I'm challenging folks to come up with
some ideas to address that.

The only thing i can think of thats desposable would be something made
out of the same materials of those hand warmers you can get. the ones
with the small disc in them that when you click creates a chemical
reaction which can reach up to 130 degrees f, and stays warm for
roughly 45 minutes. they are expensive at the moment but imsure if you
created one using less chemicals and material you could bring the
price dow. you can re-use them, but you could if you wanted to throw
them away.

heating pads contain sodium acetate and water.the mixture "freezes" at
130 degrees F or 54 degrees C, but it is happy to exist as a liquid at
a much lower temperature and is extremely stable. Clicking the disk,
has the ability to force a few molecules to flip to the solid state,
and the rest of the liquid then rushes to solidify as well. The
temperature of the solidifying liquid jumps up to 130 degrees F or 54
degrees C in the process.
this may help... may not, as ai said they are expensive, but mass
production may knock the price down
dan

If you are serving latte and have a good espresso machine, you could
offer to warm their half-empty cups with a spurt of steam:
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/kitchen/espresso-machines/index.html

It would also help if you could preheat the cups.

How do those drinks cans that contain coffee heat them up? Although, I
think that's before opening..although again, it might be after opening
because if it is stil sealed, surely it will explode.