Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Hot stones

 Keeps a hot drink hotter for longer
 
(0) 		  [vote for,
against]

When your engrossed in a task (like the 1/2 bakery for example) its pretty easy to forget about the steaming hot cup of coffee by your elbow , until an hour later you 'find' it again and take a big swig of it to find its gone all cold and crusty.

How about having a little wire rack thingy that hangs in- side the kettle, wich holds a couple of pebbles. These would sit in the water while it boils and the when you pour your coffee, you add a hot pebble to the cup. It wouldn't keep your favorite beverage hot for hours but it would keep it hotter for longer.

The pebbles, of course, are reusable. In fact I'm off to try out a few different types. I'll get back to you and let you know how it went. If you're interested that is.

(I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I recently discovered the "paragraph").

—briandamage, Jan 28 2003

USB Coffee Mug http://www.halfbake.../USB_20Coffee_20Mug
But if your mug is full of pebbles, there'll be less space for coffee! Which inspires me to post an idea... [hippo, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Hot Cubes http://users.aol.co...cklynne/hotcube.htm
Heat up your cooling coffee. [st3f, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

Bezoars! http://www.melfisher.org/bezoar.htm
Wish I could find a picture of the bezoar cup. I know I have seen it. [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

[link]






       this rocks
—po, Jan 28 2003
   

       I don't like the idea of putting a pebble in my drink. How about a drinks hot plate?
—talen, Jan 28 2003
   

       By slightly reducing the amount of liquid in the cup and making it more stable you would also be making it slightly safer to drink hot beverages. McDonalds will be knocking on your door.
—Ludwig, Jan 28 2003
   

       They'd better bloody not come knocking on my door. I'm not the biggest fan of the Mcdeath corp.
—briandamage, Jan 28 2003
   

       What you really need is a cut down version of a thermos flask. Thermos cup?
—DrBob, Jan 28 2003
   

       I have one of those DrBob.
—po, Jan 28 2003
   

       Carefull with the limestone pebbles, if they get too hot, they explode! I'm off for some chicken McNuggets yum, later. (+)
—Zircon, Jan 28 2003
   

       //I recently discovered the "paragraph"//
I don't think that you were the first. ;o)		   

       I've been on the verge of posting something like this for months, under the working title of 'heat cubes'. I envisaged heated metal cubes that you put into cooling coffee using tongs.   

       A bit of maths later...   

       To raise 200ml of coffee (about half a mug?) from 40°C (tepid?) to 60°C (warm?) using 100ml of stones, the stones would have to be about 100°C (assuming specific heat capacity of stone similar to that of coffee).   

       Sounds workable.
—st3f, Jan 28 2003
   

       [DrBob] That was the idea which I was just going to post. ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!
—talen, Jan 28 2003
   

       Thermos cups already exist - my two directors have one each.
—PeterSilly, Jan 28 2003
   

       Yes but "I" didn't know that. Any way I've addapted the idea and now I'm happy again.
—talen, Jan 28 2003
   

       Well now "you" do. Sheesh - simple statement of fact and it all blows up in my face.
—PeterSilly, Jan 28 2003
   

       It didn't blow up in your face. It blew up in mine.
—talen, Jan 28 2003
   

       The nice chap at the petrol station gave me a free thermos mug the other day when I bought some petrol. It even fits in the thermos mug tray doo-dah wotsit that pulls out above the stereo. But that wasn't the point. I LIKED the idea of a little wire rack that holds a couple of pebbles in the boiling water of the kettle (USA-jug?) to heat up, and then tips them cleverly into the mug.   

       Or I might just be chasing buns, with a non -controversial idea. I'm not sure.
—briandamage, Jan 28 2003
   

       Nah, It has a pleasing asthetic, which is the best type of asthetic. Good work that baker.
—Zircon, Jan 28 2003
   

       Zircon's right about the aesthetic thing, it's just that I prefer to post alternatives as an anno to the original idea so that the whole debate is in one place, rather than cluttering up the place with dozens of ideas all about the same thing <hint>.

As a practical objection though, briandamage, isn't there going to be a problem with the extra weight that the stones add to your cup. When you get towards the bottom of your beverage the cup is still going to feel full when you pick it up in your, and my, absent minded way? You're going to get a bit of a surprise, and perhaps a broken tooth, when you tip a couple of hot stones into your gob instead of that nice warm drink.
—DrBob, Jan 28 2003
   

       I've got on thing to say to that DrBoB.   

       Probably.
—briandamage, Jan 28 2003
   

       Ah I'd thought about that, what you want is a extra section at the bottom of the cup into which the stones are dropped before a little iron grid is dropped over them and latched.
—Zircon, Jan 28 2003
   

       Or you could have the stones wrapped in non-absorbable, non-heat retentive soft rubber foamy stuff in assorted colours.   

       Or a specially designed mug with a guard that stops things like hot stones or big lumps of soggy digestive biscuit falling out and bashing you on the teeth.   

       Or maybe cover the stones in little tiny suction cups so they stick to the bottom of the cup.   

       Or velcro.   

       (Sorry, just enjoying making paragraphs).
—briandamage, Jan 28 2003
   

       It sounds like you're planning to heat the pebbles at the same time and to the same temperature as the water. Will that be useful?   

       [St3f]'s version seems practical, though. It's too bad the little girl in the link developed it first (but then, st3f, taking a patent from a baby is proverbially easy).
—Monkfish, Jan 28 2003
   

       I worry that there might not be enough space left for the beverage.. a fine idea though.
—neilp, Oct 11 2003
   

       a slightly taller cup is required for this idea to work, so that there is space for the pebbles and for the coffee.   

       only concern is the assumption that st3f makes that the specific heat capacity of the stones are similar to that of coffee. That is probably not true.   

       I think you'd have to be fairly choosy about the pebbles for the process. Nothing with the potential to leach chemicals/elements into the water - so please avoid ores of most kinds.   

       Suspect a polished stone would be best. But what would stop the kettle being destroyed by the constant battering of small pebbles within? Is a large single stone the best way forward?
—jonthegeologist, Oct 11 2003
   

       I used to think that getting stoned, LARGE, was the best way forward, but I got married and learn't to surf instead these days......
—briandamage, Oct 11 2003
   

       If instead of a stone, you used a hot bezoar, you could have all the advantages of the hot stone _and_ all the advantages of a bezoar in your drink. (see link) Plus since a bezoar is mostly hair, it wouldn't break your teeth if your tried to drink it like DrBob want to do.
—bungston, Oct 11 2003
   
      
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