Glowstone Smart Mug 2 Honest Review – 6 Months Later

As a certified coffee snob I firmly believe that drinking from a good mug makes a huge difference to the enjoyment I get from my tea or coffee.

The Glowstone Smart Mug 2 has recently become my daily driver when it comes to either my morning coffee or evening tea.

The Glowstone Smart Mug 2 is a battery powered heated mug that keeps your coffee or tea hot for up to 1 hour. It's made from fine bone china which makes it a pleasure to drink out of, it is dishwasher safe, charged wirelessly and it works seamlessly. It's a great gift for coffee or tea lovers alike.

It's not a perfect mug, and we'll cover the minor issues I have with it later in this review, but it is an all around great mug to drink from…and that's before you add in the fact that it can keep your drinks hot for up to 1 hour!

Please note: I provided feedback to the manufacturer for improvements that went into the Glowstone Smart Mug 2 and received both a Glowstone 1 and Glowstone 2 mug free of charge. Some links in this article are affiliate links. Take what I say with a grain of salt but honestly I absolutely love this mug and use it regularly.

See the latest price of the Glowstone Smart Mug 2 at Amazon
(or compare price to Glowstone's website)

Hot To The Final Sip! – Glowstone Keeps Beverages Hot For 1 Hour

Ever made yourself a coffee or tea only to walk away for a bit and come back to find it stone cold and ready to be poured down the sink?

Well the Glowstone isn't just any ordinary mug. It'll actually work to keep your drink hot.

The Glowstone Smart Mug 2 contains a battery powered internal heater that will keep your beverage at a balmy 58ºC (136ºF) for 1 hour.

The temperature is slightly too hot for my liking and I would prefer it a few degrees cooler but this is just personal taste and I know other people who would prefer it to be hotter than this.

However, it's not too hot that it scolds my mouth and I can still drink my coffee or tea comfortably and I really enjoy it.

Best of all it requires no cumbersome app or difficult users manual to operate.

The Glowstone mug automatically detects hot drinks and turns itself on. This is indicated by the red light on the side of the mug.

It'll then stay on for a full hour (which is the current battery life) or it will turn itself off when you take your final sip. You can also turn it off by turning it upside down (make sure it's empty obviously) or if you want to turn it off while you still have a drink in it you can place it on a charging plate and it'll turn off the heating element.

From experience I will rarely take longer than 1 hour to drink my coffee or tea and it's always an amazing and unique experience when the last sip of coffee you have in the morning is just as hot as the first sip.

Made From Fine Bone China

It's no good if a mug keeps drinks hot if it's not enjoyable to drink out of.

Personally I don't enjoy drinking coffee or tea out of stainless steel as I feel it alters the taste and for me nothing beats drinking coffee from a fine bone china mug.

I'm one of those weird people who put their lips on mugs in the store to see how it feels before buying it (pre covid obviously…now I order things online haha).

The Glowstone Smart Mug 2 is the only heated coffee mug that's made from fine bone china, and boy does it make a difference.

Other competitor mugs are made from stainless steel and may have a ceramic coating (which can sometimes flake off), but the Glowstone is entirely made from fine bone china. You wont get the ceramic flaking off on this one!

Looking at it you can't even tell it's a smart heated mug, it just looks like a regular mug and it's a pleasure to drink out of and won't impart any flavors into your drinks.

Works Simply and Flawlessly

One of the things I was hesitant about in the beginning was the lack of functionality that the Glowstone Mug had.

You cannot change the temperature it keeps your drinks at and there is no app to monitor the battery life down to the percent (like some other heated coffee mugs have)

However, as I began using this using this mug on a daily basis I began to realise that all of that functionality is mostly just fluff.

I began to love the fact that the Glowstone just f*cking works without me having to do anything.

I pour my coffee in, and the mug just turns on instantly. It has a bright red light that gets dimmer as the battery begins to run out. But to be completely honest with you I don't ever really look at it other than to check if it's on or not.

I just make my coffee, pour it and and I can trust that it'll keep it hot until the last sip.

The Glowstone Mug 1 used to struggle to turn on with lower temperature milk coffee's (as the drink wasn't hot enough for the mug to register it). However, this has been completely fixed with version 2.0 and I am yet to have any issues with the mug not turning on.

When I'm done I can quickly wash it and throw it on the charging plate or I can throw it in the dishwasher if I'm feeling lazy.

Great Sized Handle and Stable Base

One of the problems I have with some mugs is they have these dicky little handles where you can only fit 2-3 fingers in it.

It makes them awkward to hold when you've got a full cup of coffee or tea and these aren't things you want to spill on yourself.

The Glowstone Mug comfortably fits 4 fingers making it easy to drink and the flat base makes it sturdy and very unlikely to tip over even if you happen to bump it.

I personally have the Honeycomb style mug which appears to have a bigger handle than the other colors, so I can't speak to the handle on the other designs.

Wireless Charging

The Glowstone Mug is easily charged by placing it on top of any Qi charging platform.

It comes with one in the box that is perfectly suited to the Glowstone but I've also texted it on Qi chargers I got from IKEA and it still works just fine.

When you place your Glowstone mug on the charge plate it'll flash 3 times to indicate that it's charging. It'll then take approximately 5 hours to completely charge.

This charge time sounds long but given I'm only using this mug once (or max twice) a day by the time I need it again it's already charged and ready to go.

Worst case and I forget to charge it (which does sometimes happen) and the Glowstone just acts like a normal unheated mug and is honestly still good to drink from.

Dishwasher Safe

Because the Glowstone is charged completely wirelessly that allows the internal computer and battery components to be completely sealed from the outside elements.

This means the mug is dishwasher safe and can be thrown in the top rack of the dishwasher with your other mugs.

This is great when I'm feeling lazy or I've left my old tea in there for 2-3 days and it's gross and needs a good wash.

Should You Buy a Glowstone Smart Mug 2? Is It Worth It?

After using the Glowstone Smart Mug 2 for 6 months now I have gone through periods where I use it daily, or even multiple times per day, and periods where it sits on my shelf and I prefer using just my regular coffee cups.

For me this choice has to do primarily with the season as well as my work. The more I was focused on my work (and forgetting about my drink) the better the Glowstone was for me.

During winter when the days we a lot colder and I was rugged up inside trying to keep warm my Glowstone Mug was basically a MUST HAVE for my coffee in the morning and my tea in the evening.

Keeping my drink hot until the last sip made a huge difference in how much I enjoyed my beverages. Winter sunrises outside where my coffee stayed hot became one of my favourite ways to start the morning.

As the months here got warmer and came into summer with hot 35ºC (95ºF) days and the sun rising well before I actually got up I found that I wasn't enjoying the Glowstone Mug as much.

I'd tend to drink my coffee faster and enjoyed the fact that it cooled down. Some nights were still cool and so it was great for tea as I watched a movie or read a book, but I wasn't using the mug as much.

As the seasons will soon turn again back to winter I feel really grateful to have my Glowstone Mug that'll keep my coffee and tea hot till the last sip.

When I have guests come and stay with me in winter I also love making them tea or coffee and giving them the Glowstone Mug and see if they like it.

The first experience is often a bit of a shock as they expect their final sips to be cool and they are pleasantly surprised and impressed with how the mug just works to keep their drink hot.

I say all this to say:

If you're a coffee or a tea fanatic and if drinking it is an important part of the experience of your day, and if you can afford it, then the Glowstone Mug is 100% worth the money.

It gets enough use over time and the experience is unique and satisfying enough that I personally believe it's worth the money.

It would also make an amazing and pleasantly surprising gift for one of your loved ones. It's unexpected, novel and useful enough that they'll enjoy it for years to come and won't end up in the cupboard with that ugly sweater and other unwanted presents.

See the latest price of the Glowstone Smart Mug 2 at Amazon
(or compare price to Glowstone's website)

Problems With The Glowstone Smart Mug 2

This wouldn't be an honest review if I didn't bring up some of the problems with the Glowstone Smart Mug 2.

None of these problems are deal breakers for me and some of them you just can't get away from given the fact this mug contains batteries and computer components. But still I think it's important to be aware of these things before you buy.

A Price Not Everyone Can Afford

The biggest problem most people will have with this mug is the price. It retails for £129 or $159.99 – however I have seen them discounted on Amazon here.

Obviously this is very expensive for a mug and this isn't something everyone can afford. But if you can afford it then I honestly think it's worth it.

My morning coffee is like a spiritual and meditative experience for me. I spend good money buying specialty beans from a local roaster and expensive oat milk.

For me the mug is just another investment into creating an amazing coffee drinking experience and an amazing life.

To be fair I was given a free mug for consultation and review purposes (perks of having a review business) but I had previously spent $170 AUD on an Ember Mug and would have bought the Glowstone regardless.

Just Looks Like a Regular Mug

The Glowstone is a good looking mug, but it just looks like a nice regular mug. But it doesn't necessarily look like a $160 mug.

This understatement may be good for some people and it's the feel of the fine bone china and functionality of the heating element I care about the most.

Still I would like to see a few different design options to choose from given the price of the product.

Cannot Charge and Operate At The Same Time

If you want to run your Glowstone Mug for more than an hour unfortunately you can't. You can't place it on the charger and run off mains power.

When you place the Glowstone mug on it's charger it automatically switches off.

After speaking with Thomas (the creator of the Glowstone) it appears the limitation here is wireless charging output.

The wireless charger outputs approximately 5 Watts while the mug runs at about 20 Watts. Wireless chargers also create heat which could cause battery issues especially at a higher Wattage.

I'm sure as technology progresses wireless charging will get better but at this stage it isn't quite there yet and for me this isn't a huge deal. 1 hour is long enough 99% of the time.

No Lid

The Glowstone Mug doesn't come with a lid so it's really an ‘at home' or ‘at office' use mug only and is difficult to take in the car.

If you do want a lid then I have tried the PortaVia Silicone Lid and can confirm it fits in the Glowstone mug which can stop spillage when you're walking.

I've done a full video showing how this lid works on my YouTube Channel here.

Non-Microwavable

When the 1 hour timer runs out it would be great to be able to throw our Glowstone in the microwave and warm up our last bit of tea or coffee however you can't do this. You'll completely destroy the mug if you do this.

This is honestly just the nature of the beast. Computer parts, lithium-ion batteries and microwaves just don't mix.

You'll have to put your coffee in a regular mug if you want to microwave it. Not a big deal at all.

Battery Will Diminish Over Time

Anyone who has owned their phone for a couple of years knows that as time goes on the battery gets worse and worse and eventually fails to hold much charge.

While I cannot say for certain I am pretty sure the same would be true for the Glowstone Mug given it's using similar battery technology.

So far (6 months in) I haven't noticed a decrease in how long it'll keep my coffee hot for. Buy maybe in 2-3 years time I willl.

Unfortunately due to the nature of the product and the fact everything is sealed replacing the battery isn't a viable option.

Where To Buy The Glowstone Smart Mug 2? BEST PRICE

If you want to purchase a Glowstone Smart Mug 2 for yourself or as a gift there are a few different places you can purchase it.

Currently I am not aware of any stores where you can purchase the Glowstone Mug in person. You need to order this product online.

You can purchase it directly from Glowstone's website where they offer worldwide shipping to almost anywhere in the world.

You can also purchase your Glowstone mug from Amazon in multiple countries around the world. I have personally noticed that the Glowstone mug is sometimes discounted on Amazon so it's worth at least checking the price at Amazon before buying.

Below are some links to the Glowstone Smart Mug 2 if you're interested in purchasing.

See the latest price of the Glowstone Smart Mug 2 at Amazon
(or compare price to Glowstone's website)