Here at the Compass we’re fans of well extracted coffee, craftsmanship, and entrepreneurs who are willing to take a risk to follow their dreams. We’re not fans of unnecessary waste, and there’s no denying coffee shops leave a large carbon footprint in the form of disposable cups. Besides, we just can’t get past that paper taste that doesn’t compliment our coffee’s delicate sweetness or acidity.

We’re sure a lot of coffee aficionados share our troubled conscience every time we order to-go, but let’s face it, who has the time to dine-in these days? If only travel mugs were better. Plastic tastes horrible, not to mention the health scares. A stainless steel thermos is great for commuting, but makes a poor drinking vessel. Ceramic is a time-proven classic, but unless you’re Daenerys Targaryen, good luck picking it up without a second degree burn.

Robert Knox of Whitefish, Montana understands your dilemma, and has developed a product with you in mind.

Knox is a craftsmen with years of experience building furniture, longboards, and cork fly-fishing grips. It was while working with the latter he realized cork was the perfect material to insulate and protect porcelain. The result of his inspiration is the Cortiça, a porcelain and cork travel mug. Less than a week into its Kickstarter campaign, Cortiça has already covered more than 70% of its goal.  At the time of posting there’s still a few early bird rate mugs left, and Antipodeans will be glad to see Knox has already secured an affordable shipping rate to Australia. We certainly won’t be surprised if we start seeing the Cortiça pop-up in our favorite local coffee shops.