UPDATE: Sur La Table Responds To Reader’s Hot Handle Incident

“Dear Consumerist,

On the bottom of Sur La Table (by Ceramiche Toscane) brand coffee/tea mugs reads “may get hot in microwave.” Now, we’ve microwaved coffee, tea, soup, and other food items in other-brand mugs before, and sure enough, the handle gets hot. Very often, one must put down the mug before enjoying its contents. But Sur La Table mugs, when microwaved, REACH TEMPERATURES HOT ENOUGH TO INSTANTLY BURN THE SHIT OUT OF ONE’S HAND.”

“My wife recently heated water for tea in one of Sur La Table’s mugs for under 2 minutes in our microwave and, when removing the mug from the microwave, received a nasty burn. The mug’s handle was OUTRAGEOUSLY HOT.

Furthermore, even after many minutes had passed (as we ran cold water over her injuries and applied burn ointment to her hand), the mug’s handle remained at a scorching temperature. I ran the mug under cold water in order to handle it safely and was amazed to find that, despite the bowl section of mug cooling appropriately, the mug’s handle retained considerable heat and was more-than-warm to the touch.

[To allay your cynicism, my wife can easily handle the hot water directly from the tap, which reaches over 120 degrees. We could not verify what temperature the handle reached, but it was way above that. Therefore, be assured that this is not a case of wimpy sad-sacks whining that they can’t take the heat.]

We contacted the company’s customer service center and are awaiting their reply.

You’ve been warned,
HOT HAND”

Thanks, HOT HAND, we got a chuckle out of your letter and its tone of mock outrage. Still, odd that the cup handle would be hotter than the mug itself. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Just remember kids, when it says, “May get hot in microwave,” err on the side of caution and consider it, “will burn your hand up all crazy-like after a couple of minutes.”

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