Instant-Heat Straw

I recently had the pleasure of trying out a self-heated can of coffee. Okay, well, the pleasure wasn't in the coffee itself, which was pretty nasty, but in the fact that I didn't have to do anything but break the seal, push the button, and wait 10 minutes, and I had hot coffee! Great for car, camping, etc.

But, that thing was expensive, and left a bunch of material that had to be thrown away (the can had 2 layers and all those chemicals to make the heat) and it didn't stay hot very long at all. A half hour later and I was back to cold, gross coffee.

Instead, why not heat the drink as you drink it? Instead of having to use a bulky insulated mug or chemically-heated container, just leave the drink cool and heat it just before consumption. This could be done with a heated straw.

I'm envisioning a battery-powered heating coil in a sealed unit, mounted in the upper section of an otherwise normal, if extra-thick, plastic drinking straw. An optical sensor would be placed below the heater, so when liquid is sucked up the straw, it trips the sensor which activates the heater just as the liquid reaches it, which brings the coffee or chocolate (or lemonade if you swing that way) to just the right temperature as it reaches your lips.

A thermostatic control would be included (a sliding switch on the unit itself?) to cater to different heat preferences. The mouth-end of the heater unit would contain a heat sensor ring, linked to a digital thermometer that regulates the heating coil to the correct temperature.

The regulation might not be spot on the first couple of sips, but the heater control would remember what worked last time and adjust its settings so that after a few more sips it would be just right.

This way you would have a hot drink any time of day, without the fuss of actually heating it up. Fully re-useable and dishwasher-safe! Comes in all these spectacular colors!