When someone unwraps a handmade mug you chose just for them, they are not just receiving a vessel. They are receiving a daily ritual: early-morning warmth, late-night cocoa, quiet moments between tasks. If that drink cools too quickly, the ritual feels rushed. If it stays pleasantly warm, the mug becomes the piece they reach for again and again. As an artful gifting specialist, I pay close attention not only to glazes and shapes, but also to how long a mug can cradle heat.

Ceramic and glass both make beautiful custom mugs, especially when you are commissioning small-batch, personalized pieces. Yet they behave very differently once hot coffee or tea is poured in. Drawing on work from coffee educators at Driftaway Coffee, materials researchers at Thermtest, makers like Curvd and Joyye, and even a German research team that built a high‑tech porcelain mug for stable temperature, we can translate the science into warm, practical guidance for your next gift.

Why Warmth Matters In The Mugs You Gift

Heat retention is not an abstract lab number; it shapes everyday comfort. Coffee and tea experts repeatedly emphasize this. Driftaway Coffee notes that ceramic mugs lose heat more slowly than glass, which means a more stable drinking temperature over time. Consumer Reports highlights how thick ceramic adds a comforting weight in the hand while keeping coffee pleasantly warm. By the Earth Living goes a step further and ties that warmth to emotional value, describing ceramic cups as enhancing not just flavor but the whole ritual of slow sipping.

Imagine two birthday gifts for a friend who always forgets their coffee on the desk. In one scenario, you give a thin glass mug. Fifteen minutes into answering emails, they take a sip and find their once‑steaming drink already lukewarm. In the other scenario, you present a thick, handmade stoneware mug. A guide on mug materials from Thermtest and a home experiment described by a DHgate article both point in the same direction: under everyday kitchen conditions, ceramic tends to keep coffee noticeably hotter. In that DHgate test, after about half an hour on a counter, the coffee in the ceramic mug was almost 15°F warmer than in a glass mug under the same conditions. For a distracted friend, that difference is the gap between “I need to reheat this again” and “this still feels cozy.”

For gift‑givers, warmth also equals time. A mug that keeps a drink in a “just right” range extends little pockets of peace: the last five minutes before the kids wake up, the quiet stretch after guests leave on Thanksgiving, the mid‑afternoon break between back‑to‑back meetings. That is the space your gift is really holding.

A Gentle Primer On Heat Retention (Without The Physics Degree)

To choose wisely between custom ceramic and custom glass, it helps to understand a few simple ideas that scientists and coffee professionals lean on.

Driftaway Coffee and Thermtest both describe heat moving in three main ways. Conduction is the direct hand‑off of heat from the hot liquid into the mug walls. Convection is heat leaving the outside of the mug into the surrounding air. Radiation is the slower, gentler loss of warmth as invisible heat waves into the room. For everyday mug choices, conduction and convection matter most.

Glass and ceramic differ in how willingly they conduct heat. Data discussed by Thermtest and Joyye show that stainless steel conducts heat many times faster than ceramic, while glass sits on the low‑conductivity end. If conductivity were the only factor, plain glass would seem like the better insulator. But it is not that simple, and this is where ceramic’s “thermal mass” comes in.

Thermal mass, or heat capacity, describes how much heat a material can soak up before its temperature rises a lot. Driftaway Coffee points out that ceramic has a higher capacity than glass when you look at real mugs of the same size. Ceramics often have tiny internal air pockets and thicker walls. Those features allow a ceramic mug to absorb some of the coffee’s heat, then release it slowly back toward the drink, rather than dumping it quickly into the surrounding air.

Liberty Beans Coffee frames it in everyday language: thicker walls and lower heat conductivity at the surface slow heat loss, and adding a lid slows it even more. That is why a thick stoneware mug with a lid can feel stable and forgiving, while a thin, open glass cup cools much faster.

Think of a ceramic mug as a cozy, heavy blanket and a simple glass mug as a light silk scarf. The scarf may feel cool to the touch at first, but the blanket keeps you warm much longer once it has absorbed your heat. The same idea applies to mugs: ceramic may draw some initial heat out of your drink, especially if the mug is not preheated, but then it protects that warmth over time.

Ceramic vs Glass: What The Tests Actually Show

When we gather the experiments and expert commentary together, a clear picture emerges: for most everyday hot drinks, a well‑made ceramic mug keeps beverages warmer for longer than a similar glass mug.

Ceramic: The Cozy, Slow‑Cooling Companion

Several sources agree on ceramic’s advantage. Driftaway Coffee calculates that, because ceramic has a higher specific heat than glass, a ceramic mug loses heat to the air about eleven percent more slowly than a glass mug of the same size and shape. Joyye and Cheralle, both ceramic specialists, describe ceramics’ natural insulating properties as key to keeping coffee warmer and reducing the need for reheating. A research‑style approach from Thermtest considers both conductivity and heat capacity together and concludes that ceramic is the best overall choice for keeping a warm drink hot the longest, with glass next and steel last.

These findings echo what tea merchants at Good Life Tea have observed in practice: in a side‑by‑side comparison between a ceramic mug and a Pyrex glass mug, they found that the thicker ceramic walls kept tea hotter for longer. The higher durability of ceramic, highlighted by manufacturers like Grey Fox Pottery and Joyye, means those heat‑holding qualities also last through years of use, dishwashing, and time in busy kitchens.

From a gift perspective, this makes ceramic an excellent choice for slow sippers. Picture your recipient setting a twelve‑ounce handmade mug of coffee by their sketchbook or laptop. Twenty minutes later, the top layer might have cooled slightly, but the body of the drink is still warm enough to feel comforting. The research from Driftaway Coffee and the DHgate experiment suggests that the ceramic mug will consistently stay noticeably warmer than a similar glass piece over that kind of time frame.

Glass: Luminous, But Faster To Cool

Glass has its own strengths, especially for people who drink quickly or love the visual side of beverages. Curvd and Good Life Tea both emphasize the elegance and transparency of glass mugs. Glass lets you watch loose tea leaves unfurl, see the layers of a latte, or judge the color and clarity of a pour‑over. Manufacturers and coffee experts, including those featured by Consumer Reports, often reserve glass for special occasions, visually striking brews, or smaller servings that are meant to be enjoyed before they cool.

The tradeoff is temperature. By the Earth Living notes that glass, especially when walls are thin, loses heat quickly and offers little insulation for your hands. Joyye and Fusenpack both classify glass as having weaker heat retention than ceramic, which aligns with the DHgate kitchen test where, after about half an hour, the coffee in the glass mug was significantly cooler than the coffee in the ceramic mug under the same conditions.

For a giftee who tends to drink their espresso or small cappuccino within a few minutes, that faster cooling may not be a drawback. In fact, some specialty coffee service intentionally uses small glass cups when they want the drink to cool quickly to an ideal tasting temperature. But for someone who carries a mug around the house, glass will feel less forgiving.

What About Double‑Wall Glass And Specialty Designs?

Not all glass is created equal. Both BaristaLife and Consumer Reports comment that double‑wall glass, which uses an air gap between two layers of glass, can significantly improve insulation. In some cases, double‑wall glass can approach or even match ceramic’s ability to hold heat, while still giving that floating, modern look to the drink.

Fusenpack’s comparison of cup materials, however, reminds us that even double‑wall designs are part of a spectrum. A thick, double‑wall ceramic or a vacuum‑insulated metal tumbler can perform even better for long‑term heat retention, especially over an hour or more. For most home and office gifting situations focused on minutes rather than half‑days, the most relevant comparison is still between standard single‑wall ceramic and single‑ or double‑wall glass.

Here is a simplified way to view the differences, based on the tests and expert commentary from Driftaway Coffee, Thermtest, the DHgate guide, Curvd, Joyye, Good Life Tea, and others:

Aspect	Custom Ceramic Mug	Custom Glass Mug
Typical heat retention	Keeps coffee measurably hotter than similar glass; one home test saw about a 15°F advantage after 30 minutes, and lab‑style analysis suggests roughly ten percent slower heat loss overall.	Cools noticeably faster, even in thicker or double‑wall designs, unless volume is small and the drink is consumed quickly.
Wall thickness and feel	Often thicker and heavier, creating a cozy, stable feel in the hand and comfortable warmth on the exterior.	Frequently thinner and lighter, pleasant to hold but more sensitive to hot contents and cool room air.
Durability in daily use	Resistant to scratches and moderate bumps; can chip if dropped but generally long‑lived.	More fragile, especially to impacts; borosilicate improves thermal shock resistance but not impact resistance.
Visual experience	Opaque, emphasizing color and texture of glaze, artwork, and craftsmanship.	Transparent, showcasing beverage color, clarity, and layers; ideal for visual drinkers.

For a sentimental, personalized gift, it often comes down to this: ceramic leans toward comfort and long‑lasting warmth, while glass leans toward spectacle and immediacy.

How Design Choices Change Heat Retention In Custom Mugs

Material is only the beginning. Gift‑worthy mugs are full of design decisions that subtly change how they hold heat.

One of the most important is wall thickness. Liberty Beans Coffee and Thermtest both emphasize that thicker walls mean more material to soak up heat and release it slowly, increasing thermal mass. That is why a high‑fired stoneware mug, like those described by Cheralle or Grey Fox Pottery, can stay warm and sturdy through years of use. In contrast, a thin glass mug may show off the drink beautifully but sheds heat quickly simply because there is less material between the liquid and the air.

Mug shape matters too. Liberty Beans points out that a wider rim exposes more surface area, which allows aromatic compounds to rise but also allows more heat to escape. That is why many cappuccino and latte mugs have generous mouths for aroma, while taller, narrower cups and espresso demitasse cups concentrate both aroma and heat. For a custom ceramic mug, you might choose a slightly narrower opening if you know the recipient tends to sip slowly, trading a bit of aroma spread for a longer‑lasting warm core.

Volume adds another layer. A larger twelve‑ to sixteen‑ounce mug holds more liquid, and that extra mass cools more slowly than a small six‑ounce cup. Liberty Beans notes that bigger servings generally stay warm longer, all else equal. The tradeoff is weight and practicality. A sixteen‑ounce stoneware mug feels substantial and cozy in the hand, which some people love and others find heavy.

Preheating is a simple ritual that dramatically improves the experience with both ceramic and glass. Driftaway Coffee and Liberty Beans both recommend it: swish a little hot water around the mug before brewing. This reduces the temperature gap between the mug and the drink, preventing that early sharp drop that happens when very hot coffee lands in an icy cup. By the Earth Living points out that preheating is especially powerful with ceramic, since warm ceramic walls then act like a heat reservoir, giving back warmth as you sip.

Consider an everyday example. You brew coffee at a comfortably hot temperature and pour it into two identical handmade ceramic mugs. In one case, the mug was filled with hot water and emptied right before pouring coffee; in the other, it was sitting at a cool room temperature. In the preheated mug, the coffee will glide down from brewing temperature into a “just right” range and stay there longer. In the cold mug, the first few minutes may bring a noticeable drop. The material is the same, but the simple design choice of adding a preheat ritual changes the heat story entirely.

Lids can extend this effect even further. Good Life Tea’s mug‑and‑infuser systems use lids that double as coasters, but while they sit on the mug they trap steam and slow both convective and evaporative heat loss. Liberty Beans echoes this, recommending lids especially for travel or drafty environments. A custom ceramic mug with a fitted lid and infuser can therefore outperform a similar open design, even if the walls themselves are identical.

Matching The Mug To The Moment: Scenarios For Gift Givers

When you choose between custom ceramic and glass, you are really choosing which rituals you want to support in the recipient’s day.

For Slow Sippers And Desk‑Dwellers

If your person nurses a drink through long video calls or creative sessions, ceramic shines. Driftaway Coffee’s calculations, Thermtest’s analysis, and the DHgate temperature test all point to ceramic cooling more slowly than glass over the span of typical work breaks. In this setting, a thick‑walled, twelve‑ounce handmade stoneware mug becomes a quiet companion. Your recipient can take small sips through a thirty‑minute planning session and still feel a comforting warmth on their hands and palate.

Add a thoughtful detail like a slightly narrower mouth, as Liberty Beans suggests, and you extend that warmth even more. For someone who wants to be wrapped in heat and texture while they think, a custom ceramic mug with hand‑carved patterns or a tactile glaze is almost always the better match than glass.

For Visual Coffee Lovers And Quick Drinkers

There are people who drink their coffee like a tasting flight: shorter pours, more focus, lots of attention to color and clarity. For them, a custom glass mug can be perfect. Curvd notes that glass mugs showcase layered drinks and specialty teas in a way ceramic never can. Good Life Tea emphasizes how much joy some tea drinkers find in simply watching the infusion unfold.

In this scenario, the quicker cooling that Joyye and Fusenpack note for glass is less of a problem, and sometimes even a feature. A small eight‑ounce double‑wall glass cup lets a pour‑over bloom and then cool into its flavor sweet spot within minutes. For a friend who loves photographing latte art or hosting brunch with colorful matcha and floral teas, a set of personalized glass mugs might be exactly right, even though they will not keep drinks hot as long as ceramic.

For Tea Ritualists And Evening Cocoa

Tea rituals often emphasize both aroma and comfort. Good Life Tea’s comparison of Pyrex glass and ceramic mug‑and‑infuser systems found that the ceramic version held heat longer than the glass, even though both brewed tea well. By the Earth Living also highlights how handmade ceramic cups support slow, mindful sipping and preserve warmth when preheated.

If you are gifting to someone who curls up with chamomile in the evening or brews pot after pot of loose‑leaf oolong while reading, a custom ceramic mug with an infuser basket and lid offers a wonderful mix of performance and sentiment. The lid will trap heat during steeping and the thicker walls will keep the brew at a cozy temperature while they read another chapter.

For Busy Households And Office Kitchens

Durability is part of heat retention too, because a mug that chips or breaks cannot keep anything warm. Joyye, Cheralle, Grey Fox Pottery, and Curvd all describe ceramic as the sturdier everyday choice compared with glass, which is more likely to crack or shatter when bumped or dropped. From an environmental standpoint, Driftaway Coffee notes that ceramic mugs are lighter than equivalent glass, which reduces shipping energy, while glass has an advantage in recyclability.

In a busy office or shared kitchen, a thick custom ceramic mug with a clear name or logo is both practical and sentimental. It can survive years of dishwashers and occasional bumps, and its better heat retention makes those rushed sips between meetings more enjoyable. Glass can still be a lovely accent in calmer, more controlled spaces, but for day‑to‑day life, ceramic does the heavier lifting.

Customization, Craft, And The Feel Of Warmth

Heat retention is not only a matter of physics; it is also a matter of how a mug feels, looks, and connects to a person’s story. By the Earth Living describes handmade ceramic mugs as combining modern use with heritage and artisan collaboration, turning each piece into something more than a simple container. Grey Fox Pottery and Cheralle highlight how customization and craft transform mugs into keepsakes with emotional value.

From a thermal perspective, many of these handmade details are not just decorative. A generous, well‑balanced handle keeps fingers away from the hottest part of the mug, so the recipient experiences warmth, not discomfort. A slightly thicker base, common in hand‑thrown stoneware, adds thermal mass and stability, making spills less likely. High‑quality, lead‑free glazes, which Joyye and Liberty Beans both emphasize, create durable, non‑porous surfaces that do not interfere with flavor and stand up to repeated heating and cooling cycles.

Artisans can also work with you to choose size and shape that support the right temperature curve. A smaller mug for afternoon espresso, a large, rounded one for morning coffee, a tall, slender one for herbal infusions that need to stay warm while steeping: each choice tells the recipient, “I see how you like to drink this.” The science of heat retention and the artistry of gift‑giving meet in those quiet details.

Glass can be customized as well, often through shape, etching, and double‑wall designs that create dramatic silhouettes. Curvd and Good Life Tea show how thoughtful glassware can feel special and intentional. Still, for the combination of warmth, durability, and deeply personal surface design—glazed initials, hand‑painted motifs, textured carving—ceramic remains the more flexible, expressive canvas.

A Peek At High‑Tech Heat‑Regulating Ceramic Mugs

Traditional ceramic already performs well, but research suggests even more possibilities for future custom mugs. The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, as reported by the American Ceramic Society, developed a porcelain mug that uses phase‑change material, sometimes called PCM, hidden inside a hollow structure.

The idea is simple but clever. Inside the mug’s walls, a honeycomb framework made of conductive material is filled with a PCM that melts at about 136°F. When you pour very hot coffee into the mug, excess heat quickly flows into the PCM, which melts and stores that heat energy. This cools the drink down toward the PCM’s melting point, so it becomes pleasantly drinkable sooner instead of being scalding. Then, as time passes, the PCM slowly solidifies again, releasing the stored heat back into the mug and keeping the coffee near that “just right” temperature for roughly twenty to thirty minutes under ideal conditions.

The same concept can be tuned for cold drinks by choosing a PCM that melts near the desired cold temperature, such as around the mid‑40s°F for beer or close to 10°F for ice. In practice, that would mean different PCM mugs optimized for different beverages, but the underlying principle is the same: use the phase change to buffer temperature swings.

While these high‑tech mugs are not yet common in personalized, artisan‑made lines, they give a glimpse of how ceramic, already a beautiful medium for gifts, might someday offer even more precise temperature control. It is easy to imagine wedding or anniversary mugs that not only bear meaningful dates and hand‑painted florals, but also quietly keep every shared cup of coffee at a comfortable warmth a little longer.

How To Decide: A Simple Guide For Your Next Personalized Mug

When you are ready to commission or choose a custom mug, begin with the person and their habits rather than the material alone.

Think first about how long they usually linger with a hot drink. For a slow, contemplative drinker, a thick‑walled ceramic mug aligns perfectly with the evidence from Driftaway Coffee, Thermtest, Joyye, Cheralle, and others: it will hold warmth better than standard glass, especially if they get into the habit of preheating it briefly. For someone who drinks quickly or likes their coffee to cool faster so they can taste delicate flavors sooner, glass may be perfectly acceptable, especially in smaller sizes.

Then consider how important the visual experience is to them. If they are always photographing latte art, showing off layered matcha lattes, or admiring the color of single‑origin teas, a custom glass mug has a magic that ceramic cannot duplicate. All of the sources comparing materials, from Curvd to Good Life Tea, agree that glass is unmatched for transparency and visual drama. Just pair it with the understanding that hot drinks will cool more quickly.

Next, think about the spaces where they drink. Ceramic shines in busy households, shared offices, and anywhere a mug might get bumped, thanks to its tough, chip‑resistant nature under everyday use. Glass belongs more in calm morning corners, gentle tea trays, and carefully tended shelves where it can be handled with attention.

Finally, ask yourself what story you want the gift to tell. If you want to say, “Here is a steady, loyal companion for your daily ritual,” ceramic is ideal. If you want to say, “Here is a little theater for your coffee, a way to see every shade and swirl,” glass is the better metaphor. Both can be personalized; both can be meaningful. The difference lies in the balance between warmth and spectacle, between endurance and delicacy.

Short FAQ

How big is the real difference in heat retention between ceramic and glass?

Experiments collected by Thermtest and Driftaway Coffee indicate that ceramic mugs lose heat to the air noticeably more slowly than glass, on the order of about ten percent in controlled comparisons for similar shapes and sizes. A home kitchen test described in a DHgate guide found that, over about thirty minutes, the coffee in a ceramic mug stayed nearly 15°F warmer than coffee in a double‑wall glass mug under the same conditions. In everyday terms, that means ceramic buys you extra minutes of enjoyable warmth, which matters most for people who sip slowly.

Is double‑wall glass as good as ceramic for keeping drinks hot?

Double‑wall glass narrows the gap and, according to BaristaLife and Consumer Reports, can sometimes approach ceramic performance because the trapped air acts as insulation. However, Fusenpack and Joyye still place ceramic ahead for classic sit‑down hot drinks, especially over longer periods or in cooler rooms. If you or your recipient drink quickly and value the floating, modern look of double‑wall glass, it may be “good enough.” If long, cozy sessions are the priority, ceramic remains the more consistent choice.

Does crafting or glazing affect heat retention?

The biggest thermal factors are still material, wall thickness, shape, volume, and the use of lids or preheating. That said, the way ceramic is crafted can support these. High‑fired, denser stoneware like the pieces described by Cheralle and Grey Fox Pottery tends to be thicker and more robust, which helps hold heat. Smooth, food‑safe glazes, emphasized by Joyye and Liberty Beans, protect the surface without significantly changing thermal behavior but do improve durability, which indirectly preserves performance over time. In other words, thoughtful craft reinforces the mug’s ability to stay warm, even if the glaze itself is not the main insulator.

Every time you choose a mug for someone, you are quietly designing their future moments of warmth. Whether you settle on a richly glazed stoneware piece that keeps their coffee cozy through a long morning, or a luminous glass cup that turns each pour into a tiny work of art, letting heat retention guide your choice ensures your gift feels as comforting in the hand as it looks on the shelf.

References

1. https://open.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3906&context=all_theses
2. https://pages.uoregon.edu/chendon/publications/2016/26.%20Sci.%20Rep.,%20Grinding.pdf
3. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1626453776480716&disposition=inline
4. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/context/etd/article/4483/viewcontent/Chapko_uark_0011O_13189.pdf
5. https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/phase-change-material-in-coffee-and-beer-mugs/
6. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/coffee/best-types-of-coffee-mugs-to-keep-coffee-warm-a7384089445/
7. https://thermtest.com/keeping-your-warm-drinks-warm-a-thermal-properties-approach
8. https://smart.dhgate.com/glass-mug-vs-ceramic-mug-which-one-keeps-coffee-hotter-for-longer/
9. https://driftaway.coffee/coffeecup/?srsltid=AfmBOoocGXGTPIbjHIiX1To6bddCRgHCt42zgWU5eoYPUGJ3gOaIhio5
10. https://greyfoxpottery.com/coffee-mugs/reasons-to-use-handmade-ceramic-mugs

About the author

Sophie Bennett

Senior Creative CuratorArtful Gifting SpecialistDIY & Customization Enthusiast

As the Senior Creative Curator at myArtsyGift, Sophie Bennett combines her background in Fine Arts with a passion for emotional storytelling. With over 10 years of experience in artisanal design and gift psychology, Sophie helps readers navigate the world of customizable presents. She believes that the best gifts aren't just bought—they are designed with heart. Whether you are looking for unique handcrafted pieces or tips on sentimental occasion planning, Sophie’s expert guides ensure your gift is as unforgettable as the moment it celebrates.