All Your Green Blog

I'm not really one for following instructions. It's a failing of mine, in most cases. I don't take care when told to "Be careful, the beverage you are about to enjoy is extremely hot!" I figure it's just the manufacturer covering themselves versus lawyers.

Well, Klean Kanteen recommends that you NOT put hot liquids in their stainless steel water bottles. They aren't thermoses, after all! But can I take their word for it? Of course not! In the interest of science, and the public good, I felt I needed to put my unburnt self on the line to verify their warnings.

Well, in addition to possibly decreasing the lifespan of the rubber seal on the cap, there is another very good reason to heed this particular warning. The fact is, stainless steel is a good conductor. Heat up one end of a chunk of steel, and the other will get hot too. It transfers heat pretty effectively. What you might not realize when you're groggily figuring out how to transport your morning brew, is that coffee and such is hot. Therefore, if you chose to... say, put hot chocolate into a Klean Kanteen... the Kanteen would itself become quite hot. Could probably burn the living bajeezus out of your hands, for example.

There's a fairly real chance of burning yourself with a bottle full of steaming hot liquid, if you're not paying attention. These are lightweight water bottles, not insulated thermal beverage transport devices. Learn from my experiments! Your fingerprints will thank you.