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?

YANBU. I finally feel that I've found my people on here.

Fruit tea should be taken from a fine china mug. As a light, refreshing drink, it requires a light vessel.

Hot chocolate should be taken from a comforting chunky mug.

We don't do tea or coffee (thus have no brown stains ). Visitors tend to get the Denby set... unless it's a brownie leader (owl mug) or DH's family (mug with surname printed on)

I have a cupboard full of mugs and another cupboard full of relegated mugs. (Awaiting being taken to university with D's) What upsets the system is people buying me new mugs that change the hierarchy.

I once had a boyfriend who drank cold drinks in cups.

He didn’t last.

😁

I would have joined in with this thread, until you said tea is served in a brown mug. This is insanity. Can we actually block posters on here? I don’t want to ever see what other nonsense this one comes out with. Horrifying.

Our mugs may be a mish-mash, but they are all meaningful to us - particular birthdays, mother's / father's day, holiday souvenirs etc. The only hierarchy however is that we have 'first thing in the morning' mugs that are very large. All other brews, regardless of type (though only hot), can be in any mug so long as he gets one of his mugs and I get one of mine. Woe betide a brew made for him put served in a mother's day mug ....

one final element of weirdness......I never drink cold drinks out of mugs....hate it!

That's not weird, that's proper

I like my morning tea in one of our Royal Doulton 1815 mugs - had thought I might standardise with these, as they are a good size and a pleasing shape, but they let your tea cool down too quickly! But good for mornings as it means I don't linger.

Other times it's usually one of two which are similar shapes but different patterns.

If neither of them are available, then the pictured one is fine, nice and big, sensible shape. My dad sent this to my dh with a sticker over the "h" saying c and one over the "k" with a t on. My mum delivered it in fact, and could barely stand up for laughing

This one!

Unicyclethief, my tea is made in a brown mug because it's the exact color/shade that the tea should be after you add the exact, correct amount of milk to it. This makes it easy for DH to gauge the right amount of milk to make tea correctly for me, and since purchasing said brown mug, he now voluntarily makes me tea up to four times a day (but occasionally as many as six). That equates to me making my own tea four to six times less a day.

This is what has elevated said vessel to Particular Brown Mug status.

I have my favourite mugs, usually ones bought as presents. I have a giant harry Potter cauldron mug I use for mornings and a smaller 'dobby is a free elf' one for afternoon. I'll also accept my 'mrs' mug or my glittery 'never let anyone dull your sparkle' one if needs be. I have a unicorn one for work, that's fairly new to my collection

Yes to this. I have a serious paddy if I'm down to the "lanky white mug" for my tea. If it's all that's left I'll just wash another mug...but DH has no such standards and will make my tea in it whilst giving himself a better mug 

This is such pleasing reading - I have a gem of a DH who seems to mirror my hierarchy without us ever discussing it !

Large cath kidston / Emma Bridgwater mugs for tea in the morning
Specific coffee cups ( we have six in total - two are different and are bottom of the coffee hierarchy)
Specific tea mugs for guests (smaller )
Small bone China for herbal tea
mugs for builders and the like ( often get left out in the garden )
Kids have their own mugs for hot chocolate
Some I hardly use at all as they don’t fit any requirements.

My sister often buys me a replicas of her own favourite mugs but I often can’t bond with these .

I used to have a special mug for the POAS days too ( which we never drank from !) but that’s long gone .

I enjoyed typing this out !!

Don’t even. There is nothing you can say to justify this madness. You are dead to me OP ..and I think we could have got along so well....

My people!!!

I have 2 mugs for coffee - shape is important. One is an RNLI mug and the other has a camping design. Cannot have a narrow top. My day isn’t quite right if I don’t use one of them. Have twenty million other mugs in the house that won’t do. One of them was bought on holiday a year ago when the holiday cottage mugs were distressingly wrong!

There is nothing you can say to justify this madness.

I've found my people. All of this behaviour sounds very sensible and reasonable.

One of my work colleagues drinks cold water out of a mug. He can't understand why I'm ahocked and outraged at such a travesty...

Oh fucking hell. I am going for a lie down. My blood pressure is off the scale. Cold drinks. In a mug.

I never drink cold drinks out of mugs....hate it!

I used to...until i discovered enamel mugs.

robryanstudio.com/archive/enamel-mug/

I tried to,train that boyfriend that cold drinks were to be put in glasses only and he flagrantly continued to drink from mugs.

It was imperative I LTB. OBVS.

These things are just too important to leave to chance. But I ask you this, have you ever coveted another's mug?

My grandmother was tiny, small hands, and had this off white mug with a blue stripe. It was simple, somewhat retro mid century. When she died I was given her wedding ring. It too is beautiful, simple, elegant and retro..... But I wanted the mug.

After her death my mum emptied the house. There was A Lot going on at the time and I didn't think to ask. I noticed shortly after that my mum had the mug in her kitchen.

All hot drinks should only be served in cups
or mugs with a white inner. I missed the brown mug bombshell .

Well I have preferred mugs, but several of them .
I’m very fussy about aesthetics of them, don’t like funny ones coffee is a serious business.

My dad hasn’t kept to my mother’s hierarchy of mugs (and plates and glasses and cutlery) since she died. No joke, it bothers me.

I have tea and coffee from the same set of mugs. It doesn’t have to be one particular one, any one from that set will do. They’re brown to match the plates / bowls, sorry Unicyclethief 😄

DH has tea from any one of a different set of mugs - white with various pictures of pocket dragons on. The shape is apparently better for improved tea drinking experience.

Our mug cupboard has his and hers sides. The boys have their own mug in the middle - tigger and eeyore - which many years ago contained Easter eggs.

On special occasions we both use the Denby mugs. Which I prefer to all of the others (and they are a lovely green colour) but they are Super Special and not used often.

I'm proud to say the DS(8) only understands this but also embraces it. He has a special spoon and bowl that may only be used for breakfast. If DH hands him send special spoon to eat a jelly, he will sigh, get down from the table, and fetch another from the drawer.