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?

I have 3 tea mugs in a specific size & shape, 3 coffee mugs which are a different specific size & shape and 3 hot chocolate mugs, which are smaller, but still a different shape. I have my favourites, but any will do. Our dishwasher is on every day anyway, so I never run out.

I drink cold drinks from sports bottles, different ones for water & squash.

I too have my favourite plates and cutlery. DH thinks it's weird. He doesn't care what plate, cup, cutlery etc he uses. Neither do the ILs. In fact, I have to hide my mugs when they come over, otherwise they will use them for the wrong thing!!!!!

LTB

When we moved house I was asked to have a mug cull as we had 103. I managed to get rid of 3!

The others were all necessary for various drinks/people.

I did a cull of “non-suitable” mugs last year and donated about 15 to my local Scout Den (very gratefully accepted). I still have plenty for regular use and a few non-suitable a for emergencies or large numbers of visitors.

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

Ditto.

OP YANBU for having a mug hierarchy but YABU for drinking anything from a brown mug.

Morning tea is in the big Sports Direct mug.

Morning coffee is in the big cup with 'coffee' written on the side.

Daytime tea in the white mugs and daytime coffee in the purple mugs only. Don't worry, they have white inners.

My abomination of a DH has soup at lunchtime in a mug that has 'hot chocolate' written on the side.

When MIL and PIL visit, they insist on bone china mugs for their cuppa. I have specific ones, just for them. When we go to theirs, however, we get horrible thick mugs with cheesy slogans 'be my valentine' or 'a present from skegness' type.

We've had the builders in since August and they have each been allocated their own mug.

In December, we use the reindeer ones, but for tea only.

OP YANBU for having a mug hierarchy but YABU for drinking anything from a brown mug.

They're Bloomindales Medium Brown Mugs, and I love them. They'll have to be prised from my cold, dead hands!

Oh no no no no no.

You have to have soup in the 1980s vintage soup mugs with the recipes on the side. It’s the law.

@Giantbanger, should I LTB?

Mine is: alpacas, bras, ship, Guardian, science, spreadsheets (but live alone so never really get past bras).

In the morning (smaller cup of tea): Brownie holiday, Romania, alpacas (half filled).

It's a simple system

We have giant white mugs, to be used for tea or coffee. I always want a giant mug. Always.

In the event that all the white mugs are in the dishwasher, I have a fancy purple mug and saucer, but DO NOT be bringing me the mug without the saucer...they are a set and must be used together.

there is also a set of tea cups and a set of mugs that match the crockery, it's only my mother who uses the cups and saucers. The mugs are small and stupid and no one likes them..unless we have people round and then they get used so I do not have to make two pots of coffee.

also have a set of bodum glass mugs, ds2 likes those, and a set of medium sized blue and white mugs that dh likes to use.

and a couple of randoms, but I am trying to get rid of those.

We have a small holiday base and that is all odd pairs of mugs, and pretty much anything goes there as far as tea or coffee content, but woebetide dh if he makes drinks and doesn't use a matching pair, that makes me feel squirly.

I will only have tea or coffee in a beautiful mug/large cup - luckily i have managed to replace all boring mugs with beautiful anthropologie mugs so can drink out of any 😁. However DH still manages to have his tea in a simpsons mug!

Tea: large mug, builders style (from kettle) - Krispy Kreme donut shop
Tea: small mug builders style (from pod), herbal or Earl Grey - "Not a snob, just better than you" or "Shoe of Salvation" mugs

Coffee: Bus or taxi mug for me Stolen from Starbucks mug in appropriate size for DH.

Hot chocolate: From pod, Milka mug.
Hot chocolate: Posh stuff made with Actual Milk, Starbucks Mug (as above).

Cat mug can be substituted for either tea or hot chocolate if I am feeling a bit down in the dumps...

Hahaha I love this! I think I have a subconscious hierarchy!

Oh, and all hot drinks at work are out of my Work Mug which is a nice, solid all-rounder that has survived at least 8 workplaces over the last 19 years. It's now at home as I'm on Maternity Leave but I don't use it at home because it's a Work Mug.

Dh has a favourite cup. I do too. And a favourite wine glass.

Doesn't everyone?

I don't have specific mugs for drinks, but I do for people... My preferred mug is a decades old blue Tigger mug, it's the right shape, size, weight, everything. I have looked everywhere for a similar one to be on standby, but no joy. Then I have 4 more that are the same shape etc as each other (and 500ml!!) with different patterns. 3 have gold sayings about happiness on them, one has watermelons (that's mum's mug), then 4 smaller bigger-than-a-cup, smaller-than-a-bucket cups that are for guests who baulk at the size of the buckets. All have white insides, naturally!

I have just realised that I choose a different mug for "proper" coffee than the one I would use for instant coffee. The Proper Coffee Mug is a bit posher.

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

I have clearly found my people.

Back in my student days I was a barmaid in a pub and we'd have training on a Sunday morning - they used to serve cups of tea in half pint glasses....even the 19 year old me couldn't face that...

YA definitely NBU! Only a total maniac would randomly chose mugs from a packed cupboard! I was talking to my mum about this the other day (as she has a special mug that she uses when she's at my house) and we decided that you can't even predict which mugs will make it to the higher echelons of the hierarchy until they are actually in usage. You can pretend drink from them in shops....but it just isn't the same. I'll admit to some costly mistakes in the past.

I also have a hierarchy of cutlery, eat from a particular plate and have been using the same teaspoon for 15 years (but only for eating, NEVER for making drinks with). A friend brought the teaspoon back from Paris for me - we lived together at Uni and she knows my obsessive ways too well. She said that she saw it and knew instantly that I'd love it. And I do! I don't actually know what I'd do if I lost it....

It’ s obvious.

First coffee of the day goes in a big mug. Order of hierarchy: Munich (bought as a joke, but now essential), Tinkerbell, NASA
Second (and subsequent) coffee is normal mug. Order of hierarchy: Banana, rabbits, owls, chickens
If run out of milk and need to use coffee pods with built in milk: Olympics, Eden project
Switch to tea in afternoon: Shakespeare, gilt floral, miffy
Evening hot chocolate : NASA big mug (only acceptable choice)

Crystal clear!

Clearly YANBU

Tea

1. Metallica mug. Just the right size for the perfect cuppa.
2. Emma Bridgewater mug. Bit too big for regular use but ok if #1 is in the dishwasher.

3.Huge old china cup with dogs on from Waitrose that belonged to my late mum. It's massive, I always make weak tea in it and I'm terrified of breaking it.

Coffee
Bleurgh.

Juice/Pop/etc
Big heavy glass fashioned into the shape of a tiki man. It's impractical, the lip is half an inch think and it weighs a tonne but nothing else comes close.

We do this - my dh's favourite mug is the chipped plain white one from IKEA (weird) closely followed by a plastic Google mug (even weirder).

My favourite is my Edward VIII coronation mug as it's nice and small, followed by the glass Nespresso mug that came free with an order at work (only for coffee or fresh lemon and ginger though). Unfortunately dh has decided he also likes this mug and keeps using it for normal tea like some kind of deviant.

We also have favourite bowls, plates, cutlery etc. In fact recently we realised it was daft keeping all the mugs etc in the kitchen when we only use about a tenth of them, so we packed up all the least used stuff and put it in the attic. We have so much cupboard space now!

Ha ha! There is so obviously a hierarchy - or rather a Right Way of Doing Things!

Breakfast coffee - my "What Do You Mean Its A Bit Muddy" mug (Cartoon of Moses crossing the Red Sea). I got this for my 18th birthday and it is approaching its quarter century. I will go into mourning if it ever gets broken, though it seems to be invincible.

Every other daytime hot drink - my "Mug of Industry" which DH bought for me when I started freelance work, with my company logo, my name and "Captain of Industry" written on it. This gets a cursory wash between uses, so it is like a proper work mug.

Hot Chocolate - Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems mug. Just because.

DH has an old Guardian "The Mug" mug and uses either that, or a poncey espresso cup for espressi.

Visitors get a random selection of old Christmas market mulled wine mugs, or a Creme egg mug of unknown origin.