Thermodynamic ‘stones’ help keep coffee at the right temperature

Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day, with drinkers invariably finding themselves walking a fine line between “too hot” and “too cold.” Aiming to help make that middle ground last longer, Coffee Joulies are small stone-like devices that can be immersed in hot drinks — cooling them while they’re too hot, and then heating them as they cool down. Each Joulie is comprised of a thin, hollow stainless-steel shell filled with a lightweight, temperature-mitigating material; all told, they’re only 50 percent heavier than an ice cube of the same size, and they sink and stay out of the way in a user’s beverage. Constructed of all food-grade materials, the small devices are roughly half the size of a standard chicken’s egg and are each designed to regulate the temperatuure of about 5 oz. of liquid. Users simply put the volume-appropriate number of Coffee Joulies into their hot drink as soon as it’s poured; the devices will then absorb heat from the liquid to quickly get it to the right temperature, then they slowly release that energy to maintain ideal drinking temperature for as long as possible. Coffee Joulies launched as a project on Kickstarter and quickly earned its target funding goal. The company is now working full-time in Sherrill, New York, to fulfill the 8,000 pre-orders placed through its Kickstarter page. An inspired piece of product design to solve an everyday annoyance! (Related: Coffee mug for moms that won’t scald tykes — Preheatable dining stones keep dinner warm.) Spotted by: Florent Lesauvage