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Original poster

Is it just me or do you have a hierarchy of mugs?

150 replies

BellaBearisWideAwake · 21/03/2011 13:44

And is it something you share or do you seethe when someone helps themselves to the wrong tier?

eg mugs you don't mid being taken outside/mugs for builders

mugs just for real coffee

mugs only YOU can use

or is it just me?

OP posts:
colditz · 21/03/2011 20:49

It's a very british thing.

When I started visiting a certain friend regularly, I was awarded my own mug. Not bought one, but actually given the sole use of one they already had, as they said "You always choose that one. It likes you."

Original poster
BellaBearisWideAwake · 21/03/2011 20:50

I would clear them all out and replace with my dream mug (of which I now only have one left) but I've found out they cost £12.50 each and I'd want about twelve of them.

OP posts:
colditz · 21/03/2011 20:51

And a very good (and understanding) friend of mine now will make drinks, choose her own mug and then allow me to choose my own from the remaining mugs.... now, that's friendship.

Original poster
BellaBearisWideAwake · 21/03/2011 20:52

My FIL freaks out if anyone uses his mug. And don't even mention making tea in it. He can taste it apparently. He only drinks instant coffee.

OP posts:
MissusF · 21/03/2011 21:10

Oh God yes.

DH's pint mugs, thick china that bounce

Decent ones for guests.

thin, delicate ones for me Grin I cant stand drinking out of thick mugs.

Frinds bought me a beautiful Cath Kidston one for my birthday. They know me well.

CoffeeInTheMorning · 21/03/2011 22:53

My daughter is already worried that she can't take her favourite mugs away with her when she goes to uni, as they're our favourite mugs too. The kids shout if we try to get rid of the really scratty ones - they remember where we got them and when - and won't let us get rid.

You always need a mug that can fit a whole digestive in though.

Borisismyhousespider · 21/03/2011 22:57

Totally Grin I'm currently rotating 3 mugs. Dh drinks from any mug, the dd's have their own mugs, that they've decided upon from the collection. One of my friends always uses the pint mug for her tea (is it odd that one of my friends has acquired a mug in my house?) Grin I have mugs that are allowed in the garden/for the builders too!

hatwoman · 21/03/2011 23:02

does anyone else have mugs that are not meant to be used? apart from for non-tea related activities like measuring rice or dog food? every time fil comes he makes tea in one of the horrible green mugs and I find myself having to fight the urge to tip it into a white one. seeing as the green mugs are kept in the mug cupboard fil isn't being entirely unreasonable to use them. I am still hoping to transmit to him, by some form of osmosis, that green mugs should never be used for tea. but surely everyone knows that?

hatwoman · 21/03/2011 23:07

for 20 years I prided myself on my completely random mugs, mostly inherited as a result of being the last students to move out of a student house after about 5 years of continuous, overlapping student occupation. but just 2 weeks ago I cracked and brought myself some trendy pantone ones. just the 6. I am torn between loving them and having anguish over my colour choices.

I do have standards though. mugs should be straight-sided, thin, white and of particular dimensions that I can't impart but which I know when I see.

ninedragons · 21/03/2011 23:29

I have a gorgeous thin bone china one from New York (which was awarded Best Mug on a thread similar to this one a couple of years ago. Sadly the photo is no longer on my profile) that is mine, but also the one my mum strongly prefers.

I get a bit twitchy when she uses it and have to remind myself that pain relief for birthing women in the 70s wasn't as good as it is now, and she has therefore earned the right to use my special mug.

Anyone else would be told to fuck the fuck off.

anonymosity · 22/03/2011 02:30

I have a hierarchy of mugs, cutlery, plates, pans, you name it. Its called being a bit OCD I think.

starrychime · 22/03/2011 06:24

Can't believe I have been up since silly o'clock (to wash overnight nit treatment out ) and have read this all the way through and found it highly interesting Grin Has anyone mentioned the WORKPLACE mug hierarchy? There definitely is one in ours. The crappy ones brought in by reps get stuck at the back of the cupboard to be used in emergencys only for large meetings. The lovely cupcake ones we use which were originally bought for posh meetings but have wormed their way into general usage. The individual ones which live in the cupboard but "belong" to someone but can be used by some unsuspecting newbie whilst the "owner" twitches a bit and whisks it off back to the cupboard as soon as possible!

Original poster
BellaBearisWideAwake · 22/03/2011 07:35

Another category: Mugs that must be handwashed.

OP posts:
ExitPursuedByALamb · 22/03/2011 07:55

My mug hierarchy gives me a headache just thinking about it!

But I too have a lemsip mug, and a cuppa soup mug.

My builders' mugs are ones that were being thrown out of an office I worked in, 30 years ago! How come they never get broken but my favourite ones do Sad. Maybe the builders are more careful than my family?

WuzzAndBuddy · 22/03/2011 08:39

Yes Starry! Workplace mugs!
We have a cupboard in the staffroom for the 'chosen' mugs, the nice ones that people 'own'. Then we have 3 cupboards in the kitchen where the others live.
The really old cups that no one can drink from live in one cupboard, the ones brought in by reps and other ok-for-new-staff-to-drink-from mugs are in another and then the presentable but to small for a teabreak mugs are kept in another cupboard for when we make drinks for patients.

We had an incident last week where a dr used another drs mug... it wasn't pretty....

OhYouBadBadKitten · 22/03/2011 08:39
Shock Made our builders their first cup of tea this morning and then overheard them discussing which mug was theirs! Once fancied the kitkat one whilst the other said he was happy with the Christmas one as its his favourite time of year. It really matters folk!
WuzzAndBuddy · 22/03/2011 08:53

Lol. If the builders argue over the crappy mugs then the rest of us are obviously sane in our little mug hierarchy heaven! Grin

colditz · 22/03/2011 09:06

I want to ask someone Frech, or Spanish about this.

I am convinced it is a British thing.

Original poster
BellaBearisWideAwake · 22/03/2011 09:12

It only matters to prolific tea drinkers, I reckon. Anyone who drinks PROPER coffee regularlywill have proper coffee cups.

That's my completely unproven theory, anyway.

There's a thesis in there I reckon colditz.

OP posts:
Sherbert37 · 22/03/2011 09:14

Love this thread. I have 3 Bridgewater mugs on a shelf, rest in cupboard. Peony one is for breakfast tea and makes me smile. They are doing a border terrier one now but would mean squashing up on the shelf...Dcs are teenagers but still use Disneyland Paris mugs with their initials on for milk every day - even DS1 who is 18!

A lot of money in mugs. An affordable treat these days.

TheGashlycrumbTinies · 22/03/2011 09:25

Spotty Emma Bridgewater x 2 for coffee at breakfast.

Alphabet EB me, and Big Love EB for DH during the day.

Best friend EB me, and Polar Bear EB for DH for coffee before bed.

DD's EB Lamb, and EB Bunny for breakfast, Peter Rabbit before bed.

China cups for my Mum when she visits.

Whittard mugs for anyone else.

We also have some very special mugs with beautiful hares in relief on them, only used for Sunday morning coffee, hot chocolate, and hot milk.

Brew
TheGashlycrumbTinies · 22/03/2011 09:27

I do only drink proper coffee, am obviously a scruff as don't use coffee cups:)

Original poster
BellaBearisWideAwake · 22/03/2011 09:32

Well me too but thinking more along the lines of coffee drinking sophisticated nations iykwim

OP posts:
hatwoman · 22/03/2011 10:14

at my old workplace - full of lefty liberals who should share and be all egalitarian about everything - mugs were a bastion of capitalism and personal property. the idea of leaving your mug in the kitchen (as suggested by some earlier posts) was unthinkable. you had your mug - brought in from home - and you kept it on your desk. (clean or dirty, depending on your leanings). no-one but a complete fool would leave their mug in the kitchen.

If you had guests you grubbed around in the cupboard where there were a handful of uncared for or abandoned personal mugs and about 2 supplied by our generous employer.

PurpleLostPrincess · 22/03/2011 22:27

I have shown this thread to DH who thinks I am totally bonkers about my mugs, how reassuring to know I'm not alone!

We must have about 30ish mugs in the house. When I make a cup of tea I choose the mug very carefully. There is an array of types in the cupboard, DH says he doesn't care which mug I give him but I know he does secretly! When he makes my tea (we take it in turns); he asks me what size mug I'd like and if I'd like lemon tea or normal tea as this determines the mug.

A few years ago somebody bought me an Eeyore mug and since then I have collected large purple Disney mugs who now have their own shelf. DH has banned me from buying any more but if I seen one on eBay that's going for a good price I nab it (have never paid full price for one!). I probably have about 10 in my collection and nobody in the house would dare try using one!

When my Mum comes round, she has a cup and saucer, always has because she wouldn't dream of drinking out of a mug unless it was bone china - I do keep a few small china mugs just in case. When I'm at my parents, I have 2 or 3 Jamie Oliver mugs that are kind of mine, unless there are visitors, in which case I will use one lower down in the chain. Dad has a Jamie Oliver 'Top Dad' mug and uses it all the time - the last one got smashed so I replaced it but they have a new shape now which really annoyed me. Again, DH thinks I'm a fruit loop for even caring Grin

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