Name: The Vatten travel mug at 22.50 euro and 380 millilitres: on the cup surcharge alone it takes 90 takeaway coffees to break even
Price: 22.50 EUR
Availability: InStock

EUR 22.50, rated 4.7 from 730 reviews, 380 millilitres, steel inside and out. At the 0.25 euro surcharge the government advises, it takes 90 takeaway coffees to break even.

What you need to know

From September a lot of people go back to carrying a coffee to work every day. This 380-millilitre stainless steel Vatten mug costs 22.50 euro and is rated 4.7 from 730 reviews on the listing. Work out the payback before buying, because it runs against intuition: the Dutch government only advises what a disposable cup should cost, 0.25 euro, so 22.50 divided by 0.25 is 90. Ninety takeaway coffees before the cup fee alone covers the mug. And that surcharge is due to disappear in 2027. Whether the mug is worth it therefore rests on a different sum.

Specification: 380 millilitres, stainless steel inside and out, which the listing contrasts with rivals that use steel only on the inside; a matte powder coating for grip and a non-slip base. (source 1)
The listing states a fully leak-free design, so it can go straight into a bag or a car, and an outer diameter that fits nearly every car and truck cup holder. (source 1)
Priced at 22.50 euro, rated 4.7 from 730 reviews on the listing, EAN 8720256025269, dark green finish. (source 1)
In the Netherlands the business sets the disposable-cup surcharge itself; the government only advises 0.25 euro for a cup and 0.50 for a meal, and says the rules change in 2027. (source 2)

The sum that matters is this one: 22.50 divided by (the price of a takeaway coffee minus what a cup costs you at home) is how many cups it takes. A three-euro coffee on the street against roughly 0.20 euro brewed at home is a gap of 2.80, and 22.50 divided by 2.80 is about 8 cups, a week and a half. That is a different order of magnitude from saving the cup fee: 90 cups on the surcharge, 8 on the coffee itself. So the reason to buy the mug is that you intend to switch to brewing your own, not that you intend to keep buying takeaway.

One thing is missing from the listing, and it is the specification a vacuum mug most needs: nowhere on the page does it say how many hours it keeps a drink hot. Material, leak-proofing, grip and cup-holder fit are all there; hours are not. So do not assume fill-it-at-eight, still-hot-at-two. Testing it is easy: fill it with hot water and take a sip four hours later. Your own answer beats any page copy.

Check the 380 millilitres against what you actually buy. A medium coffee in a Dutch cafe is commonly 300 to 350 millilitres, so this holds one with room to spare, but whether a given cafe will fill your own mug, and to which line, varies. Asking once on the first visit saves finding out at the counter.

One more thing has nothing to do with money but changes how you use it: under the Dutch rules, drinking in should already get you a reusable cup, and only takeaway and delivery carry the surcharge. So on the days you sit down, this mug saves you nothing. It has exactly one saving scenario, and that is when you walk out with it.

The bol link on this page is an affiliate link: the mug is still 22.50 euro if you order through it, and Hokimi may receive a small commission.