Metro to Mountain Journal

Distractions are a major cause of vehicle collisions. So what does that have to do with an expensive coffee thermos?

Have you ever driven across Kansas in the middle of the night? Well, picture this - it is late and lonely on the straight road; but you have your thermos of coffee to keep you warm and awake. Opening the thermos you pour the hot coffee into your cup or at least you try. The coffee misses your cup and splashes into your lap. Talking about a distraction!!! As you try to cool the burns, your truck is going everywhere. If you were somewhere other than Kansas, in the middle of the night, you probably would have wrecked. As soon as possible, you pull over to the shoulder, jump out of the vehicle and scream to the cows and corn. There must be a better answer...

Well there is, the Zojirushi Tuff Sports Vacuum Bottle, a thermos with great design features.

A few Zojirushi Tuff Sports Vacuum Bottle notes ...

• Ours is the one liter model.
• There is a red button to push to open the vacuum.
• We have never had any spills from the bottle.
• The bottle comes with a shoulder strap, I have never used the strap.
• The outer bottle top can be used as a cup, but it is small and would not hold much.
• When you screw the bottle top on the thermos, it is engineered to stop at exactly the same spot every time. The top is perfectly in line with the handle.
• When you screw the vacuum cap on the thermos, it too is engineered to stop at exactly the same spot every time. The top is perfectly in line with the handle. So??? So, even in the dark, you can pour hot coffee into your cup and know the direction the coffee is going. You just grab the bottle by the handle, push the red button and pour. There is no more guessing as to where the coffee might be coming out of the bottle. Of course you can still spill the coffee or overfill the cup; but at least you know which way the coffee will pour from the vacuum.
• It is always a good idea to stop your vehicle before you try to refill your coffee.
• The vacuum had 13 reviews on REI, it received a 5 star average! It is hard to get 13 people to give anything a 5 star rating! It is that good of a bottle.
• We have owned two bottles. With the first bottle, we were not careful about reattaching the bottle top. The bottle fell onto the pavement and cracked the plastic thermos lid. We had not bought that thermos from REI so we tried to find another lid; but with no luck. We had to buy another bottle. Purchasing the bottle from REI means it is backed by their warranty. Oh, and if you always replace the bottle top, there will be no breaks.

The bottle would make a great Christmas gift to anyone who might need a good cup of hot beverage .

Happy Vacuum Bottle trails.