Espress-o Yourself
And exploring the question: Which do you prefer: a mug with a handle or handless?
Not too long ago one of my girlfriends, an incredible ceramist named Kemi Schleicher, debuted a gorgeous set of espresso mugs via her Instagram, and my affinity (mild obsession) for tiny things shot through the roof.
I first discovered Kemi’s work for myself in 2022 when I interviewed her for a magazine I was working for, along with the pottery collective she was part of at the time made of Black and Brown women and non-binary potters in Minneapolis. We struck up a friendship after that and I adore her and her beautiful work. Next to glassware, my mug collection is a treasured thing of beauty at home. Though I have we will never say way too many, I get attached to one mug for weeks. Kemi’s is currently the it girl of my cupboard.
I was having a conversation with a friend recently about whether we prefer our mugs with or without a handle, and after deep existential thought and mulling a la Frasier Crane, I decided handless is my preferred technique. I always want to be as close to heat as I can be, and cupping a hot/warm curvaceous vessel fulfills my hygge fantasies of swaddling and being swaddled by something. I will have hot tea on a 90 degree day, and I will cup it. I also like that it encourages my inner hermit to be sat instead of walking around with an object because it’s been made portable vis a vis a handle.
A mug with a handle, while efficient and arguably safer, has too many variables: will it only fit two or three or four of my fingers? They are generally made from clay or porcelain, so the likelihood of the poor handle breaking is higher and thus rendering it useless. And, of god!, we can’t forget the crisis of the handle being on the opposite side that allow you to hold it so that the mug’s text is facing outward!
But I digress. Friends, what say you? What is your preferred way to hold a mug? And while you ponder it, equally steeped in an endless loop of options, buy Kemi’s mug.
Nicole