We've been holding coffee mugs wrong our entire lives

How is it possible we’re only finding out now that we've been holding our coffee mugs wrong our entire lives?

Just when we got use to the fact that we’ve been holding chopsticks wrong, and just got our heads around cutting birthday cake in a completely new way, another mind-blowing myth is busted.

How we’ve been holding mugs incorrectly is beyond us because don’t mugs have handles for a reason?

Well, according to South Korean scientists, there’s a logical reason as to why we always manage to spill our hot drinks and it’s because of the way we’ve become accustomed to holding them.

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While it may seem logical to hold the mug by the handle, the researchers discovered this is NOT the most effective way of holding a mug for many reasons:

Wrapping your hands around the mug increases the force at which the beverage collides with the inside walls of the mug. This causes the liquid to rise more forcefully and spill over the edge.

Ok fine, point made. So how on earth do these fancy pants scientists expect us to hold our mugs instead?

They propose we use the “claw grip” method. By grasping your fingers around the rim of the mug, this will reduce the chance of liquid spilling over the sides of the cup.

Alright, but what about if the hot steam rises? Won't it burn our palms? And holding it like a claw doesn’t feel very sturdy...

Don’t worry, because the nifty South Koreans have an answer to this problem too… walk backwards!

Huh?

While researcher Jiwon Han recognises that walking backwards to avoid coffee spillage might be less practical, he says it significantly changes the frequency characteristics of our hand motion and subsequently reduces the probability of spilling coffee from the mug.

We’re not so sure we’ll be running around the house and office backwards, but we’ll give this claw method a chance. We can’t promise we won’t go back to wrapping our hands around mugs though - it’s so cosy!

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