If you're like me, your day typically begins with an alarm going off, reluctantly climbing out of bed, and heading straight to the coffee pot. Once brewed, you pour yourself a cup and wait a bit until it's cool enough to drink. After your first few sips, you notice it's time to head out the door in a hurry -- and you have all this coffee you haven't finished yet!

Okay, maybe that's just me, but you get the idea.

In this situation, or even a more planned routine, it's nice to be able to bring your coffee with you so as not to waste any precious nectar. Even better would be to enjoy the rest of your coffee on your bike commute; especially this time of year! But how do you carry it? One way might be to use a handlebar-cluttering cup holder with some kind of mug that fits. Perhaps a thermos you stow away in your bag, but these are tricky to unscrew and drink while riding. The cup holder is just One More Thing(tm) causing clutter, and, besides, most bikes already have drink holders -- sometimes more than one!

The ideal solution, then, would be to use your existing bottle cage to carry your drink. However, drinking coffee from a water bottle is less than ideal, and, frankly, makes me cringe thinking about it. Fortunately there exists a wonderful little travel thermos you can easily open with one hand, even a gloved hand, with the press of a button. It fits nicely in your bottle cage, and it will keep your beverage nice and warm (or even hot!) for a long time. It's called the OXO Good Grips LiquiSeal Travel Mug, and will set you back about $20. The previous version of this mug had a flaw that made it difficult to impossible to clean the lid thoroughly, but fortunately it has been fixed. Fear not reviews that mention this!

With this mug, you'll never again have to leave any coffee behind, and you won't have to worry about extra doodads to do it. If you have your own method of drinking coffee on your commute, be sure to leave a comment and let us know.