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?

Oh! The brown mugs have a white inner. I thought that went without saying!!

Damn you autocorrect!
You get the gist.

You're all batshit.

(But I have my correct coffee mug in front of me 😂)

Just sat and read this thread drinking my morning tea out of my Number 1 cup, if this one is not available then my 'All you need is love' cup of similar size and shape to No.1 cup is to be used. If No.2 cup is unavailbe then a guest mug will have to do.

Here is DS gazing in wonder at my No.1 cup.

Draconis - use the Denby!

It will give you a tiny bit of pleasure every time. Life is too short to save things for best. Plus, Denby is tough as old boots.

For me: Tea in 2 thin china mugs
Coffee in a smaller china mug (I have about 5 favourite ones)
Soup in a thick mug hand-painted by DD1
DH has five mugs that are just his alone
DD1 has her own mugs, so does DD2
Visitors have one of the ones with Bathing Huts (Sainsbury's)
Workmen have one of the ones with spots on (chipped)

1. Our system is much simpler. Despite having a cupboard full of mugs DH and I have ALL drinks out of the same two.
2. I concur that no tea or coffee should be drunk from a brown mug. It just tastes worse.

I have loads of mugs and use what ever is nearest when I open the cupboard, however at work a dear colleague bought me a gorgeous fox and ivy black and gold mug and woe betide anyone I see using it

YADNBU!

Our hierarchy is more to do with using the mugs we like best first and going from there.

The only enforced rule is that I never use his Sonic the Hedgehog mug and under no circumstances is he to lay hands on my My Little Pony one.

We are a novelty mug household, there isn't a cup set in sight. When guests come over we just give them the least sentimental ones - Dartmoor mug, generic black spotty mug or superman mug.

I see your mug hierarchies and raise you specific plate and cutlery hierarchies!

As a family of 4 we only ever use the same (but different to each other) plates and cutlery at dinner time. If they're not clean we wash them. God forbid we use any of the 20+ other plates in the cupboard!

I also particularly enjoy drinking coffee from my supersized glass bodrum mug

Wine is awful drunk from a mug, prefer to drink it straight from the bottle with a straw if no wine glass available

Oy. See my post above 😁 my mother had a specific mug/glass/plate/cutlery hierarchy and dad doesn’t adhere to it any longer. It really bothers me.

I have found my people.

I am genuinely horrified to discover there are people who dont have a mug heirarchy.

Although I do have to ask if anyone else has a DP who asks silly questions like 'why are you buying another mug when we already have loads and there's only two of us?'
Because THIS mug might be THE ONE.

I use my Mugs to passivley aggressively say how much I like/value people.
Certain people get certain mugs, this can change if the person has pissed me off or done something nice
Best bit is that nobody else knows - which can be a problem if DH makes me a drink in one of the “lower caste” mugs and I wonder for a second what I’ve done wrong

I'm the same! Two favourite cups and then it's downhill from there

But I ask you this, have you ever coveted another's mug?

I stole a colleague's butter knife at work, and from the same workplace, a pair of paper scissors [although the second one was by mistake as I had the same pair and genuinely thought they were mine, only found the second pair after I left that job].

I still use the butter knife. That WAS premeditated. I am sure he got over it.

I have my Star Trek “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” mug for tea...my Persomalised mug I got in Tombstone in 2001 for my coffee, my John Wayne mug in work. Nobody is allowed to use any of them.
My dad has his favourite pointy teaspoon for about 40 years...if it ever goes missing the world will end lol.

Surely everyone does this?
The first tea of the day shall be from my lovely large mug.
Coffee? Denby coffee beaker.

Haven't just got up to check my mugs. No.
Denby mugs are for first cup of day, always tea, especially for tea in bed. (The contents don't slop out on the way upstairs. )
Coffee mugs (slightly smaller) are on the Mug Rack.
Misc Other Mugs (bigger) are for hot chocolate, milky coffee, or for when an Extra Large Tea is required.
Gift mugs are problematic, and upset me .
DH likes an IKEA mug, I will accept one but with a raised eyebrow. It doesn't happen often.
Ddil occasionally drinks squash from a mug. I try not to take it personally

Coffee must be in a Cath Kidston Stanley mug as they hold a fuck-tonne of caffeine

Tea must be Emma Bridgewater Mummy mug

Hot chocolate must be in EB hot chocolate mugs with spoons

I understand and do the same. However I vary my mug routine from 1 December to 26 December to incorporate a Starbucks Christmas mug. Screams seasonal joy, that mug does.

We also have glass, cutlery and plate heirarchy here which is quite complex because it relates to the texture and temperature of what is being eaten and where. Whisks also ....but there are practical reasons for this.

Screams seasonal joy, that mug does.

Not literally, I hope, because that would just be terrifying.

Yanbu at all! Dp drinks tea and I drink coffee.

The best coffee mug is the thin walled flamingo mug, followed by the brown owl, then the massive cat shaped bucket.

Tea mugs are all tea stained so easily identifiable (because he leaves the dregs in them and hides them upstairs quite regularly) and the best ones are the star wars and super Mario ones, followed by the flared blue ones with flowers on, then the white ones with black squares.

The brown and cream set come out only for guests (so everyone gets the same size drink) and the antique china only comes out if I want an earl grey after dc has gone to bed.

There is a similar system for the glasses.

My mug hierarchy has been going on since childhood, so much so that my mother held onto favourite mug until I was settled into a home of my own. It lasted a week until DH chipped it.

Despite this appalling start to our life together I’m still with him but I’ve learned. Everyday mugs now come from supermarkets or pound shops. Current favourite mug was bought by MIL. She’d be horrified to hear it was my favourite despite the twee cats decorating it so I’m not telling her. Second favourite is a pound shop one with a flared top and my star sign on it. The rest of the cupboard full are unacceptable.

DH would like me to throw them all away and buy some I like so he can’t get it wrong. What he doesn’t seem to understand is that there are imperceptible differences between identical mugs and if he can’t get it right when there’s only one cat mug there’s no chance with a matching set.