Best Wood For A Coffee Mug

ByLouis Reading Time: 5 minutes

The natural world has provided us with much, with coffee being one of the greatest treasures! There are many ways to drink it, but wooden mugs in particular often offer a unique experience. I thoroughly enjoy my coffees, and I’ll be lying if I say it doesn’t taste a little more special in my wooden mug. So, what’s the best wood for coffee mugs?

The best wood for coffee mugs is Beech Wood and Maple Wood. They are highly resistant to scratches and damages and much less porous than other woods. They retain heat well, are inexpensive, and their tiny pores prevent lingering tastes and odors from the wood or previous beverages. 

There are numerous things to consider regarding wooden coffee mugs, such as the wood type and whether they have an epoxy resin finish or a natural, non-toxic oil finish. Let’s take a closer look!

Best Wood For A Coffee Mug

Choosing the best decision from the many types of wood available for making coffee mugs might be difficult. Porous materials may impart weird odors and tastes to your drink. Thus, the ideal wood for a coffee mug must be non-porous. In addition, the wood must be chemically inert and food-safe.

Plastic and styrofoam mugs are therefore highly discouraged. The wood should be thick enough to keep the heat while staying light enough to be pleasing to the touch. As it turns out, Beech and Maple are two types of woods capable of producing not only a good coffee mug but a delicious mug of coffee to boot.

Only hard Maple outperforms Beech as a food-safe, close-grained hardwood with exceptional scratch and impact resistance. Because its tiny pores are almost as good as Maple at preventing germs, dampness, and stains, it also keeps your coffee hot for longer and reduces lingering scents and flavors.

Its cream to pink or brown tint, on the other hand, reveals stains more quickly than either. Beech mugs are the most affordable, but they shrink faster than most other woods, so you’ll need to refinish them regularly (unless they have an epoxy finish).

Coffee mugs made from both soft and hard Maple are superb. It’s harder than Beech and more scratch- and impact-resistant, but not so much that it’s heavy or awkward to grip. It’s also a food-safe, closed-grained hardwood with some of the smallest pores available in wood, making it ideal for resisting germs, moisture, and stains.

The smaller the pores, the more the coffee’s inherent flavor is preserved without influencing the wood or prior scents and liquids. When maple mugs become damaged, it’s difficult to disguise the stain on their off-white to amber-yellow surface. Unless their finish includes epoxy, you must reapply their original finish monthly, just as you would with other woods.

What Is Epoxy, And Should A Coffee Mug Have It?

Epoxy resins are manufactured industrially from raw ingredients obtained mostly from petroleum. Some craftspeople use them to prevent liquids or microorganisms from seeping into wood pores.

If you used epoxy, you could construct a water-tight mug from toilet paper. Use beeswax and mineral oil to make it water-tight for a more natural look (any food-grade finish will do!).

Coffee mugs are generally safe to use as long as they have a non-toxic, natural, and food-safe finish. Natural oils will give your wood an excellent polish, but keep in mind that it eventually dries out. As a result, if you have non-sealed, finished wood, you’ll need to reapply the original finish (whether it’s oil or beeswax) as a semi-permanent seal.

Individuals can choose between an epoxy-coated coffee mug and a natural mug. A mug filled with epoxy will eliminate the guessing, but your mugs will be plastic with wood stuck inside. You’ll still see the wood, but you won’t be able to “feel” it.

They’ll appear precisely the same for years to come. With a natural finished mug, some understanding of why the mug’s finish has to be reapplied every couple of weeks is required; else, they’ll end up with dried-up leaking mugs.

Essentially, the choice is between a coffee mug with an epoxy coating that eliminates the original wood feel and a natural coffee mug that requires regular care to maintain its functionality.

What Are Some Good Wooden Mug Finishes?

The finish used for a wooden coffee mug drastically alters the finished product. When using epoxy, the “natural” element of the wood disappears, and the coffee mug becomes more modern. However, certain other oils help to retain originality but wear out, so you’ll need to reapply the finish at some point. Here are some of the best wooden mug finishes:

Tung Oil

Tung oil derives from the nut of an Asian tree, and it’s a beautiful choice for woods that already have a lovely color because the transparent oil doesn’t change the hue much. Tung oil enters the wood and hardens to preserve the surface, similar to linseed oil.

Natural oils permeate the wood rather than leaving a film on the surface, which aids in finishing the mug since the oil does not rub off on food or drink, altering the flavor.

Linseed Oil

Linseed oil takes longer to dry than most other finishes, the lovely sheen it produces to be well worth the wait. Raw linseed oil is entirely natural and provides a long-lasting finish and an attractive yellow tint that accentuates the natural shade of the wood.

Boiled linseed oil contains chemicals that should not come into contact with food and drink, but raw linseed oil is entirely natural and provides a long-lasting finish as well as an attractive yellow hue that can enhance the natural color of your coffee mug.

Mineral Oil

Clear mineral oil is natural and non-toxic, and it will not alter the hue of the wood, but rather than piling up on the surface like wax, it will absorb into the surface and give deep protection. Mineral oil is also widely accessible in most pharmacies.

Conclusion

Beech and Maple are excellent choices for wooden coffee mugs because they’re sturdy and non-porous, so they don’t retain the tastes or odors of the wood or previous liquids from the mug.

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