Has anyone ever had the mug handle come off a cup of tea? Never heard of it happening.
Posted by Objective_Love_7434@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 35 comments
What surprises me about the UK most of all, as a born and bred citizen is I have never heard of someone having a cup of tea and then the handle detaching from the ceramic mug. Has this ever happened to you? Sometimes I have held boiling hot mugs or even positioned a plate on top of it before and always wondered how our mug handles faithfully carry such weight.
So has anyone had this happen to them?
hellhound28@reddit
I saw the cracks just before I poured the tea in. I picked it up with both hands to throw it out, and was left with the handle in one hand and the mug in the other before I even reached the bin. Close call!
Independent-Ad-3385@reddit
Yeah it happened to me once, we were on holiday and I was carrying some mugs to the kitchen (by the handle) and one of them just ... fell off. Then broke on the floor. My mum came in and said she knew I was telling the truth about what happened because of the way I was still holding the handle.
T_raltixx@reddit
Yes. Last month. It just crumbled.
Worried_Suit4820@reddit
Not a mug, and it didn't happen to me, otherwise yes. It was a ceramic jug full of custard to put on a school dinner pudding. She was left standing holding the handle of the jug, because the body of the jug just fell off. She had lukewarm custard down the front of her school uniform skirt. This happened 60 years ago and I'm still annoyed that the teacher on dinner duty that day shouted at her for being careless; the injustice still rankles.
steveakacrush@reddit
Yes this has happened to me.
Valuable-Wallaby-167@reddit
I appreciate the desperate attempt to make this UK specific in the first line lol.
I've never had a handle come off when I'm drinking, I've had one come off during the washing up though. My dad seems to lose the handles off his mugs every couple of years so god knows what he's doing to them.
ooh_bit_of_bush@reddit
Yes, when I was a student. In perfect comic timing, my friend handed it to me and she said "careful, it's really hot" and as I took the handle, it snapped clean off. Had to rip my shorts off in front of everyone and run my err, "self" under the cold tap in the bathroom. Horrible.
ThePolymath1993@reddit
Yeah it's a tricky thing to navigate, being mugged off like that. Most people can't handle it.
Critical_Pin@reddit
Yes it's happened to me. It was my favourite mug and I glued it back together, fingers crossed it has held up so far.
I once had a mug split in half vertically but that wasn't tea, I was putting some pressure on it from above with an Aeropress
Routine_Ad1823@reddit
Hah, no - but one of my gf's mugs has a perfectly circular handle (as opposed to that more half-heart/ear shape they usually have) and if you try to carry it one-handed then it just levers round in your fingers and tilts down. It's a menace to hot beverages!
thelightwound@reddit
Yes, I have. I know a little about pottery too. It happens when there is an air bubble caught in the slip between the mug and the handle. The handle ends up only being held in place by pooled glaze in a few areas.
You can tell, if you’re brave in the shop, by holding a mug up to your ear and gently trying to rock the handle. The movement is too small for the eye to see, but you WILL hear a tiny crunching sound if an air bubble is present. Those handles will eventually break off.
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
Oh that is interesting, thanks for that. A good way to 'test' a mug you have. I can see that breaking off far faster to thermal cycling fatigue cracking which a mug will endure.
EdmundTheInsulter@reddit
Yes, it just fell off a favourite mug
kestrelita@reddit
Not me, but a friend at uni. He was waving his mug out of the window at my husband, pretending to throw it. Then the handle came off and the mug went flying! Thankfully no one was hurt.
ComprehensiveAd8815@reddit
Yes, it was a creame egg mug that came with an Easter egg, luckily the tea had been drunk and as I picked it up to take it to the kitchen it just popped off and the body of the mug fell to the floor. Gutted, I liked that mug.
Swimming_Possible_68@reddit
I had it happen to a mug whilst washing it up not long ago.
Never had it happen with tea in the mug.
art-beer@reddit
No but I have had the mug c9me off of the handle.
DogtasticLife@reddit
Awkward 13yr old me on a French exchange trip, taken to grandparents house where grandma heated the milk specially so the strange English girl can have a cup of tea (because English people survive on Tea and crumpets) anyway grandma hands me this weird milky concoction and immediately the handle falls off and dumps a scalding hot tea in my lap.
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
Oh wow that sucks. Hopefully didn't have severe burns. That must have sucked!
filthythedog@reddit
I had a mug of tea kind of explode once. Made it as usual, picked it up to take my first sip and the mug just suddenly cracked and fell apart leaving me holding just the handle with a bit of the mug attached.
Fortunately I was at a desk so avoided showering my lap with scalding tea. Unfortunately, the tea soaked a lengthy already overdue essay I had almost finished writing (this was back in the day of handwritten coursework) and I had to write it again, handing it in even later.
"I spilled tea on the first one" was deemed as lame an excuse as "The dog ate it".
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
I would say this counts! I could imagine time stopped for a moment as you looked at what was left of your mug in pure shock.
The stained papers should have been adequate proof :)
Wonder if the mug was partially cold so a temperature differential caused that? Or just bad luck :)
filthythedog@reddit
It was a cheap mug, to be honest, so probably a combination of things.
I can't remember my reaction but I imagine anger and intense panic and anxiety featured.
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
Ahhh false economy! And I can imagine especially with the sheer hours put into one. Nearly all mugs in this house bar two have really thick handles and probably might be less inclined to break that way. I have never actually seen it in practice happen to me or anyone I know.
LickClitsSuckNips@reddit
I once triple heated a kettle on a snowy winters morning and poured it on a glass and the glass basically split in two
kotare78@reddit
I once worked with a lady whose entire belief in ghosts was based on a glass spontaneously shattering. I brought up lots of rational explanations on the Internet but she wasn't having any of it. Much more likely to be paranormal in her opinion.
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
Funny as someone incredibly spiritual and have had paranormal experiences that I know current science has not given me a satisfactory answer (including my NDE where I learned key parts of a friends past only she knew about), my first thought was 'temperature differential' as that is quite established physics.
The other thing with certain mugs is maybe fatigue cracking at the handle of a mug, from the constant expansion/contraction of heat/cooling cycles where the cup will be hotter than the handle with the joint being stressed over time.
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
Ahhh the temperature differential. Physics was unkind to you that morning!
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
I realise from the replies and it seems the downvotes, me and my entire social group have gotten extremely lucky. Legit have wondered why I never saw a case of it in my entire life of a mug spontaneously self-destructing in that way :)
sunheadeddeity@reddit
Yes it's happened to me luckily the mug was over a desk and only half an inch in the air, it just dropped back down and slopped a bit of tea about. I looked pretty stupid lifting just the handle to my mouth...
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
That is a good fortune actually saving the brew!
Wonderful-Cow-9664@reddit
Yes, I absolutely have. And unfortunate 3 times. Only once did I get covered in hot coffee though-but I was more devastated that it was my favourite mug. I’d had it for years and it just gave up the ghost on me one mornong
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
Three times! No way :) Sucks about it being a favourite mug, did you epoxy the handle back like a boss?
nick9000@reddit
Yes
Objective_Love_7434@reddit (OP)
That sucks, what a mess! Future reference as a tech who has spilt an entire mug of coffee in a laptop, isopropyl alcohol to clean components is your friend. I tore the machine apart and had the boards bathed in that. Great to clean switches ruined in that way too!
One of the comments in your thread said *Nothing worse when they self destruct!* implying that this might be more common than I originally thought :)
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