To have a hierarchy of drinking vessels?

[mediumbrownmug]

So up until I married, I genuinely thought that certain cups being for tea and others for coffee, etc. was a common practice. I myself have an (admittedly extensive) hierarchy of mugs/cups to be used for each drink. The breakdown is as follows:

Tea should be made in Particular Brown Mug (I have two).
If brown mugs are not available, tea may be made in either of two thin-walled Floral Mugs.
If these aren't available, tea can then AND ONLY THEN be made in one of the Taller White Mugs (we have eight).
If none of the above is available, an emergency dishwasher run needs to take place immediately, and in the meantime one of the bone china tea cups will come out with much fanfare (bone china not being toddler-compatible, they come out but rarely nowadays).

There's a similar hierarchy of coffee mugs. Juice and water also have particular cups, but they're not quite as stringently enforced. DH knows this and accepts it.

The problem is that DH has no Special Mugs. None. He has no issue whatsoever with my hierarchy of tumblers and has even painstakingly learned which ones to grab in various scenarios when he makes the drinks- but he doesn't have a mug that HE prefers. When I ask if he wants tea/coffee I have no idea what to give it to him in.

Wondering if he just hadn't "found the right one yet", I went ahead and purchased a Potential Special Mug for him as a present (he had been dropping hints that he wanted it) and he does like and use it, but refuses to insist that it, or any other drinking vessel, only be used for one particular beverage to the exclusion of all other mugs. I, coming from a long line of Special Mug lovers, find this lack of commitment odd.

By way of comparison, my DF still uses the same Special Mug that he's been drinking from for the past two decades. Even my DGPs each had their own Special Mug marked with nail polish in an inconspicuous spot to differentiate between the two identical mugs so they could tell whose was whose. AIBU to have a Special Mug, and provisions for when the said mug is unavailable?

As per my post @ 08:25, I have my morning tea in a big Sports Direct mug.

Sorry not sorry.

DH has a Sports Direct mug for the rear garden

@TakeAChanseyOnMe, always BYO.

Ooh, my people! I absolutely have a mug hierarchy. The only problem with it is that DH always chooses a different mug for me. It’s a beautiful one, decorated by my children, but tea just does not taste so good out of it. I have told him time and time again, but he doesn’t get it, and can’t understand why I don’t want to use their lovely mug.

YANBU. I have my Special Cups on a display shelf (scrabble letters of our names, then a Jasper Conran, then a Phonetic Alphabet and finally a bone China delft pattern cup). All can be used interchangeably for tea or coffee. My mother likes a Cath Kidston China dots cup and I have IKEA white cups for emergencies/people I don’t like. I will not accept a tea or coffee in a cup not from the Special Display Shelf.

I am speechless. You are all bloody batshit 😂

Brilliant. So pleased to find I'm not the only one. DH thinks I'm weird.

1. Tea out of one of 3 favourite chunky mugs, but in a preferred order.
2. Coffee out of a particular china mug; unless
3. DH and I are both having coffee, in which case we use a (different) matching pair; unless
4. it's a cafetiere coffee, in that case we use the Cath Kidston mugs.
5. Herbal tea in the fine china mugs, but not the same one as #2 obvs.
6. Hot chocolate in one of 3 chunky mugs, but not any from #1.

I also have a set of glasses that may only ever be used for GnTs .

I've got special bed time tea mugs. First is a red mug, got it from my old bosses house when he moved, along with a matching yellow one but that broke. If that's not available, then it's the white cup with fruit on. Next is the cup with the Robin on, then the meerkat one. Rarely get to the meerkat one unless the dishwasher hasn't been on.

HOWEVER, dh is unaware of this system and he's been known to make visitors/ workmen drinks in one of my special cups and it makes me twitchy.
In the daytime I've got some large Asda mugs but he doesn't like them as "there's too much tea in them " (bloody heathen!) so he has any old mug, as long as it's a small one.

Absolutely loving this thread. Coming from a family where "favourite mugs" are the norm and with a grandfather who welded the handle of a coffee pot to his favourite mug when the original handle finally Broke this is all completely extremely pleasing to hear. The in laws are of a similar pedigree, despite recent acquisitions of a number of very nice cath kidston mugs they are steadfastly drinking from 1990s Mars Easter egg mugs.

Strangely though, whilst DH is therefore fully understanding of my mug "issues", his own concerns revolve almost entirely around cutlery and he will only eat with a very limited selection of knives and forks because none of the other "feel right" and are "the wrong weight".

Oo cutlery hierarchy - our cutlery was a bit of a mix of everything due to now-DH and I combining our cheap student stuff. We got a nice cutlery set as a present (Judge, so not toooo naice to be precious about). I always choose the newer knives and forks for me - but DH gets whatever was top in the drawer.

 DH May have been known to mildly lose his shit if the kids have the "good" knives and forks. They are of course now wise to this and actively seek them out. Maybe this is how it starts and I'm just lucky they don't drink hot beverages yet....

Morning tea in my home office has to be in one of my two preferred mugs with white interiors, NOT the yellow mug with yellow interior (makes my tea look murky). Watching-TV-on-the-sofa and in-the-bath tea can be in the yellow/yellow because it is indestructible and I have very stupid, nosy, clumsy cats, but it should be used at no other time. Tea served to me in The Monstrosity (aka a massive grey curved hideous thing that OH loves) will be considered with horror before drinking. Poorly tea can come in the pint mug from a Welsh cafe but it's rare.

Oh, and because I'm a thirsty heathen, all cold drinks should come in a bog standard IKEA pint glass. CLASSY.

Oh gods. Cutlery. Don't get me started.
Disclaimer, I am aware I do sound a bit ...odd with all this. But, I'm cheered to find, apparently not!

YANBU. Tea in a pale coloured bone china mug so I can properly assess colour and strength.

Coffee in any old mug.

One of my absolute pet hates is when my in laws come and stay and my MIL (who is absolutely lovely and I adore), makes me an afternoon cup of tea in my giant morning tea mug and only bloody half fills it. Arghhhhhhhhhh gives me the right rage. Bloody hell Pauline, pick an appropriate sized mug for the time of day and fill it to the fucking top.

I realise how reasonable batshit this is

chickenloverwoman I have a special spoon just for eating cereal 😎 The metal is much thinner than other cutlery I own

I have specific mugs for specific times of the day. I don't drink much coffee so these are mainly used for tea.

Morning: Paddington Bear mug
Mid-morning: Game of Thrones mug
Lunch time: Cath Kidston mug
Afternoon: Large Fox mug
Evening: Green mug

Writing that out, I realise that I'm filling my dishwasher with mugs that could be used more than once. The afternoon one is sometimes used multiple times though.

1 - first cup of tea in the morning - Alice in Wonderland mug (thin China, big size, stains like a bastard).
2 - Subsequent cups of tea (of ehuchbtgere are many) in thin china, big size shipping forecast/periodic table/skeleton mugs
3 - all of the above are too big for hot choc. But the little starry mug is too small. The spotty Laura Ashley one (thick china, wider at top than bottom) is ok.

EXCEPT

• if i’m feeling good, all tea to be served in my World Champion mug
• if I have lots of time and peace avd quiet, i’ll use of the big Denby wedding present mugs.
• if camping, only my big yellow plastic mug will do. It’s been round the world with me that mug.

Basically, I like “naice” big mugs.

Apart from our Yorkshire Tea mugs, I don't designate particular mugs to particular beverages, but my husband and I have our own mugs that I wouldn't use for anyone else (mostly ones that we have bought as presents for each other). My BIL can't drink hot drinks from dark-coloured mugs (i.e. when the dark colour is inside).

This made me laugh, my husband and I recently had a tiff about the matching / non matching mug situation. I’m annoyed that we don’t have any matching mugs, we just have a mishmash of random crap mugs that were gifts or bought on holiday etc..., he insists he likes this as he has a mug for every occasion and can easily identify different drinks when serving visitors as they each get allocated an individual mug!

YABU to suggest that tea is 'made' in a mug.
Tea should always be made in a teapot, then decanted to a mug. I have an old Blue Willow teapot that has seen daily use since 1988.

That being said, YANBU to have a hierarchy of mugs.
Here is mine:

Weekday breakfast:
Light aqua blue mugs, 12oz capacity. I have four of these.
Failing that, 'the purple mug', same shape, same capacity. The purple mug is actually my hot chocolate mug but if I find myself in desperate straits then it's ok to use it for tea.

Weekend breakfast:
The white mug with black ink rooster, 18oz capacity.

Afternoon tea:
Any Blue Willow cup or mug.
Visitors also get the Blue Willow mugs.

Tea at work:
I bring my own in a travel mug, 18oz capacity.
This is partly because I don't want to use any of the work mugs or make my tea in a mug (no teapot).

I don't drink coffee often, but when I do I use some red mugs that we normally take out on Christmas morning. For after Christmas dinner I have porcelain cups and saucers.

I mainly drink fizzy water straight from a can.
If I have a glass of water I use a small glass, the same bistro style glass (no stem) that I use for wine.

I don't drink juice.

• I also have a mug with a photograph of sharks swimming underwater printed on it, and I use it occasionally for afternoon tea.

It truly is Medium

YANBU

It’s a beautiful one, decorated by my children, but tea just does not taste so good out of it. I have told him time and time again, but he doesn’t get it, and can’t understand why I don’t want to use their lovely mug.

It would be awful if . . . something happened to it . . .