One of the many products that we love here at Mora Ceramics is our double walled ceramic travel mug. This mug has received a lot of great feedback, but just as many other great products out there on Amazon, has also received a little negative feedback. In this article we will talk about why I designed this ceramic travel mug, how it is assembled, and also answer the question: “Why does my mug have a hole at the bottom?” Read on for a hole lotta puns.

Well, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love coffee on the go? For me, my problem was that I was a two cup of coffee kind of girl in the morning. One cup of coffee while getting ready, and one cup of coffee for the drive. I often would just refill my ceramic mug with the black hot goodness and bring it in the car. Here’s the problem: the handle would get in the way of the cupholder and it wouldn’t sit in there nicely. Problem 2: make a turn or go over a bump, and my poor car would suffer the consequences.

Solution? A coffee mug that has a narrow enough base to fit in the cupholder, no handle, and a lid. But if a ceramic mug doesn’t have a handle, that’s going to burn your hands right? Have you ever held a mug with fresh hot coffee without the handle? It’s straight up HOT! Another solution: double walls. Now I know I am not the first one to come up with a double walled ceramic mug. Just look at Starbucks. The thing with Starbucks' ceramic travel mugs is that they just aren’t big enough, (only a mere 12 ounces) and it's not microwave nor dishwasher safe.

So there we have it, the ceramic travel mug, a fun new idea to design and create. Little did we know, the function of this mug makes for an extremely complicated process. Each week we would confront a new issue, such as why does my mug have a hole at the bottom, and how can we fix this to make it dishwasher safe? But that is half the fun of a project right? Let me tell you the hole story.

Design and make the molds. When making a ceramic mug that is mass produced and sold on Amazon, consistency is the key. So we don’t use a potter’s wheel. We use molds. Two molds for the inner wall, and two molds for the outer wall. The molds absorb the water in the clay, letting the clay harden. Once the clay is hardened to the “just right” degree, the clay is then taken out of the molds and the two walls are assembled and sealed together.

Why does my mug have a hole at the bottom? Back to 4th grade art class. Remember back in grade school when you worked with clay? You had to get all the air bubbles out. what happened if you had an air bubble in your clay and then fired it? It would explode right? The same thing here with our mugs. The insulation between the outer wall and the inner wall is like one big air bubble. The only way to prevent a big explosion in the kiln is to puncture a little hole at the bottom of each mug.

We work hole-heartedly. After the firings and glazings and then firings again are complete, we now have this hole at the bottom of our mug. If we just leave the hole as it is, water will probably get in between the walls while in the dishwasher. So instead of leaving it and calling it a day, we add on one more step. We plug up the hole with a high quality sealant, and then fire it at a lower temperature one more time.

The final product. That is why if you look at the bottom of your Mora travel mug, you will see a little white dot. Some people think it looks like a bubble, others think it is a paint mistake. Nope, we did that on purpose y’all.

Ok so if you read the previous three paragraphs, you now know why we have to make a hole in the first place and then plug it up. So you really shouldn’t have a hole at the bottom of your mug because we plugged it up for you.

Even so, there is a very small chance that the adhesive for some reason didn’t attach to the mug or seal the hole properly. If that is the case and you are the one asking “why does my mug have a hole at the bottom?” or “why is my mug leaking at the bottom?” then congratulations you have received a rare defect. But have no fear, all you have to do is send me or my customer service team a message, explaining the hole problem and maybe even showing a picture. We will take care of you by sending you a free replacement. That’s the hole truth!

What some people do. What I have noticed that some people do in this situation is they think their mug is leaking. They may think this because after they put their mug in the dishwasher, water will come in through that hole and collect in between the walls. Then when turned right-side-up, water slowly starts to come out from the hole.

What makes me really sad is that instead of contacting me or my team about it, they leave a bad review on our product. We look through each and every one of our reviews, and try to find those ones who are not 100% satisfied. However, Amazon makes it very difficult for us to contact them.

If you came to this article wanting to know why your mug had a hole at the bottom, then I really hope this article helped. We are always here for you to answer your questions. I will be doing more of these FAQ articles because I want to make sure you are fully aware of everything about our products upon purchasing so that you are confident and happy. You all are so important to me!

Questions or thoughts? Comment below or shoot me an email, I’d love to chat.

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I love you all and have a great day!

Written by Alix Tieben