Light 4 – 7 fluid ounce insulated cup with a tight fitting lid?

[Peter Lester]

For the last 7ish years I’ve been using a GSI Infinity Backpacker Mug (https://gsioutdoors.com/products/infinity-backpacker-mug) for coffee while backpacking. I like the weight(3.5 ounces) , but it’s much larger than I need (17.5 fluid ounces); I only use about 1/3 of that capacity. I’m looking for a smaller cup.

Montbell STAINLESS STEEL THERMO CUP 250 looks perfect other than the weight (4.7 ounces) https://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?p_id=1124871

In my searching I’ve found several options that have a better weight, but none of them have lids
– Snow Peak Ti-Double H200 Stacking Mug. 7 fluid ounces, weight 2.2 ounces. https://www.rei.com/product/109591/snow-peak-ti-double-h200-stacking-mug
– Lixada 255ml Ultralight Titanium Double Wall Insulated Cup Tea Cup. 7.6 fluid ounces, weight 2.5 ounces. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lixada-200ml-Ultralight-Titanium-Double-Wall-Insulated-Water-Cup-Tea-Cup-Mug-for-Outdoor-Camping-Hiking-Backpacking-Home-Office/587703894
– AeroMug, Titanium, Double-Wall Mug 120 ml. 4 Fluid ounces, weight 1.7 ounces https://sotooutdoors.com/product/dealer-resources/

Does anyone have a recommendation for a light 4 – 7 fluid ounce insulated cup with a tight fitting lid w/o a handel?

[Bob Shuff]

Every time I think I’ll just use my pot as a mug I find I wish I had the separate cup.

I can vouch for the Snow Peak 200 being excellent, although it seems a little spendy right now.  You can also buy a silicon lid for it.  Like you I also had the GSI Infinity and relegated it to my car camp kit because of the size and weight, but it is oh so functional to keep drinks warm, make oatmeal or soup, or any small meal.

Are you set on an insulated cup?  You can shave ounces and find something that will nest in or outside some pots to save space.  I like the Evernew 400 mug that nests outside the 760 pot.  Snow Peak  does the same with their Mini-solo kit.  Of course there are collapsible cups like the Sea to Summit X-tumbler that pack small and  are insulated to boot.

I’m interested to hear what others do.

[Paul McLaughlin]

how tight fitting do you need the lid? do you want to be able to carry it in the pack while full, or just be spill resistant around camp?

[Peter Lester]

@Bob – Snow Peak 200ml with silicone lid would be ideal, but I only see lids for 300ml or 450ml. Nothing for 200ml. Am I missing something?

@Paul – just spill resistant around camp

[Richard N]

Keith Ti3301 and friends?

[Matthew / BPL]

I love love love the Snow Peak no handle mug around the house and at work. I have the lid but I prefer drinking straight out of the mug. It’s not a huge cup of coffee/tea so I’m not going to sip it for hours.

https://www.snowpeak.com/collections/drinkware/products/ti-double-h300-stacking-mug-tw-123

2.7 ounces according to the site.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

MLD’s 450 titanium mud is another favorite if you can find one. Again, no lid. It’s really light. Like an ounce and a quarter? I can weigh it if you want.

I like Evernew’s flat/wide 400 as well. It packs easily in a small pack because it’s so short. Again, no lid. I’m not a lid person…

[Bob Shuff]

OK – hold on.  I was thinking I had the 200 and 300 nesting cups, but I actually have the 300 and 450.  I like the 300, which by the way fits inside the Infinity mug perfectly; even better than it would in the SP450 stacking cup.  Here are all 3 cup/mugs:

[Bill Budney]

When I look at that GSI mug, I see a plastic jar with lid and cozy. Nice.

So I rummaged around and found 4, 5, and 7 oz candidate pill bottles. (I think that is 60, 80, and 110 drams. Ask a friendly pharmacist.) Made a Reflectix cozy. Tested with boiling water; they soften but do not deform.

There is nothing special about these. Any jar will do, although I found it difficult to find tiny jars at the supermarket. Eight ounces and above are much more common.

The 7oz cup weighs 35g / 1.1oz including the cozy.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

What’s the recycle code?

another option would be the smooth wall HDPE(I think) jar from Litesmith or US Plastics. Very light and I believe it’s a decent choice for hot water from a health perspective. It doesn’t deform when subjected to heat. Interesting note: the 12 and 16 ounce versions weigh the same.

Whole Foods brand gelato comes in a thin wall HDPE jar like a Talenti jar but it doesn’t deform. Very light. Nests perfectly into a Toaks 550 iirc. Happy to test if that matters to anyone.

[Bill Budney]

Recycle code = 5. What does that tell us?

I thought about Talenti jars, but they look bigger than 7oz.

Litesmith jars do come in 4 and 6 oz sizes. The web site says they are polypropylene rather than polyethylene.

I have not found any definitive info on heat safety of various plastics, especially around the boiling point of water. Do you have any? I figure that non-deforming is a clue, but perhaps only a vague one.

It is a good point, though. Maybe I should have said that “any HEAT-SAFE jar will do.” :)

(EDIT: Not sure about the dram sizes I posted above. I’ve seen conflicting information on how big they are. Maybe my 7oz bottle is 60 drams rather than 110-120? I dunno.)

[William Chilton]

No 5 is polypropylene. As it’s used for microwaveable containers, it should be ok. I’ve been using a PP ice cream container as a mug for years.

There are many online explanations of recycle codes. Here is one. I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but it mirrors the information that I’ve seen elsewhere.

[Dustin V]

I like the Soto Thermostack (original) which is 400 and 350 cups that nest to make a double-wall cup. The sipper/strainer lid isn’t particularly tight and more volume than you need, but multi-use since you can boil in either cup.

[Glen L]

The insulation I use is a double layer of coated nylon big enough to wrap the mug. The rubber bands are the lightest thing I could come up with to secure it. Keeps the fingers from burning and the drink hot longer. The lid helps a lot with keeping the drink hot longer too in those cold, windy conditions. This way cooking without an extra pot is possible. This mug is bigger than you desire at 600 ml but it comes with a cooking tight lid that I like.

 

I’ve got a couple double wall mugs and they are nice but heavier and no cooking ability.

The 400 MSR Titan mug is nice and I found a good titanium lid on Amazon that is an okay fit and keeps the drink hot but isn’t what I’d call tight.

 

both nest perfectly with titanium water bottles

[Brad W]

After countless hours of reading research papers I have concluded no plastic is safe in the regards of leaching hormone disrupting chemicals to some extent. The ‘safe’ plastics were tested in there raw barefoot pellet form and some of those raw materials did not leach, but almost all containers and plastics require additives during the manufacturing and with that, #5, HDPE, leached harmful chemicals, more so when heated. Can’t escape all plastics, can limit them. So for me I use a 2oz Toaks Ti mug for coffee. I am going to make a cozy, but I just re-heat if need be for now.

[Bob Shuff]

A few more ideas, including the blue Light my Fire Collapsible Pack-Up Cup, and some others I tried in various cook kits.  The Light my Fire cup is 260 ml and 52 g according to their website.   I found it a little small.  The mug pot in the back is the Evernew Ultralight 500

[Paul McLaughlin]

A buddy of mine took a styrofoam cup with a lid, wrapped the outside with duct tape, and brought that for his coffee. Some care required when packing, but had to be less than an ounce.

[Link .]

Naturehike Double Layer Titanium Cup Heat Insulated Double-wall Tea Coffee Water Cup Mug 250ml .

or the one suggested earlier 300 ml Ti-Double 300 Mug  . but the Snow Peak one has handles and the 250 Naturehike does not.

[Nick Gatel]

You could probably store some stuff in the Infinity cup to compensate with the volume it takes up.

A few years ago I actually had the opposite problem of yours —

decades of fooling around with less than satisfactory drinking cup solutions — Sierra Cup, Rocky Cup, plastic cups, re-purposed coffee shop carry-out cups, titanium cups, double-walled titanium cups, small pots that doubled as drinking cups, and more.

The Infinity solved everything elegantly. BUT . . . I wanted a large cup. I like to take my time and drink a large cup of coffee in the morning. At night sometimes a large cup of hot chocolate and I want this large cups to stay hot (or very warm). 16 ounces in the Infinity cup is perfect for met.

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