Why glass coffee cups?  Aren’t regular coffee cups good enough?  I mean, all they’re supposed to do is hold coffee, right?

Even from a completely utilitarian point of view, glass coffee cups make sense.  After all, it’s a lot easier to tell if your coffee is made right if you can, you know, see it.  This is especially important with espresso coffee cups where there’s only a tiny amount of  coffee, but the layers are very specific.  But this likely isn’t the main reason that people purchase glass coffee cups.

The main reason is probably for their looks.  Although a drinking glass looks fairly normal, a glass coffee cup somehow looks more elegant than your standard porcelain or ceramic.  Even the cheapest glass coffee cups look as if they’re made of crystal when sparkling clean.  At home, having glass coffee cups can truly add to the decor of a kitchen.  A restaurant owner might use regular coffee cups most of the day, and then switch to glass coffee cups when he turns the lights down for dinner, adding a touch of elegance.

Most of the perceived drawbacks are misconceptions.  Glass coffee cups are no more breakable than ceramic or porcelain.  Think about it.  You knew that.  I think it’s because we’re all brought up using plastic cups as kids that we automatically assume glass equals breakable.  However, compared to ceramic, glass is probably actually stronger.

Glass coffee cups are no more expensive than a normal coffee cup, if you know where to look.  They sell at various online outlets for around $20 per cup, which is pretty standard for a quality coffee cup of any material.  They definitely look more expensive, though.

Some feel that glass coffee cups won’t keep their coffee warm for as long as porcelain or ceramic.  This might be true if not for the huge hole in the top of every coffee cup.  With the exception of disposable coffee cups, or travel mugs, you can’t really count on your container keeping the coffee warm.  A material merely has to not conduct heat well to be good for coffee cups – that’s all.  Otherwise, any time you grabbed the handle, you’d burn yourself.

Probably the biggest downside is spotting.  If you don’t use drinking glasses, odds are pretty good that you don’t even know if your method of washing dishes is leaving spots on them.  Glass coffee cups will tell you real quick, and you may have to change how you do things.  There are additives for dishwashers that take care of this, but success may be limited depending on your dishwasher.  You might finding yourself washing your glass coffee cups by hand.

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