Since I was a teenager, I have enjoyed nature’s most delectable beverage and surely the late night and early morning USAF technical school classes increased my intake of the dark roasted, strong, little bit of cream and two teaspoons of sugar drink!  With that in mind, I can’t count the different coffee cups and mugs I have owned over the years—everything from the standard porcelain handled cups to the $15-20 spill proof OXO’s or my duck season camo’d cup.  The wife and I always take great care of our mug/cups and keep several on hand to switch out during the week.  We at least soak the lids and cups in Dawn and have at times, soaked the lids in a combination of water and bleach. 

     Soaking the lids arose a few years ago when one of our more expensive cups/lids had a weird taste/smell.  After soaking it, for 12 hours, rinsing and drying the lid, a few days later, the taste and smell occurred again.  With no way to take the lid apart and after owning the cup for about a year, I decided to break out the ‘Tool Man Taylor Binford Tools’ and pried all the working parts of the lid apart.  To our disgust, in the nooks and crannies of the lid, we found a goopity guck of sludge.  Without pause, the lid and cup went straight to the trash.  Since that experience five years ago, we waited for this particular company to make a change where you could unscrew the plunger (that keeps it spill proof) and I noticed about a year ago, they did so. 

     As I said earlier, we own a good selection of coffee cups (as you see above) and a year ago, CINCFAM brought home an office cup that was given to her as a welcoming gift, of which I adopted.  It’s a bit larger than most and kept my Morning Joe warm for the amount of time specified by the regulations of the home concerning CAKR 102.15 Coffee Cup/Mug Management Regulation.  At any rate, as I was gearing up for the morning DC commute, I filled the cup for the road and as soon as I get down stairs, I drop the cup on the driveway, and you can imagine the pain of having to head back up 37 steps to brew another cup.  The disgust didn’t end there though!

     The coffee cup broke, the shiny ring on the lid came off and disclosed it’s ‘dirtylittle secret.’  Mind you, as I said above, we are animate about keeping our lids clean and this lid, regardless of its few moving parts, was cleaned several times, or so I thought was clean.  It seemed there was not one place where goopity guck sludge would hide.  I was wrong.  There was more sludge in the lid/silver ring than the one mentioned above, as you can see in the photos to the right.  It made me sick to my stomach, that this mess was wet, it smelled something awful, and has been hiding for who knows how long.  All along, I have been taking small doses of this mess with every sip, not even aware of its home. 

   So, my message to all of you is to be aware of your favorite cup—there may not be an easily, visible location for this mess to hide.  If you have a lid that isn’t clear and it calls itself spill proof, there is probably an area within the lid that is harboring this sickening sludge.  I bet you’re taking a second look at that cup right about now.  Best wishes and check them out!  Salute.

Signs you may have goopity guck sludge:

Smells horrid – you wash and clean it and it comes back.  Let your cup dry after cleaning and then moisten the lid and take a smell. 

Tastes horrid – tastes somewhat like vinegar