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Scientists reveal the claw-grip is the best way to avoid spilling coffee

the claw-grip is the best way to avoid spilling coffee

A team of scientists from South Korea have proven once and for all that the claw-grip (gripping over the top of the cup) is the best way to avoid spilling coffee all over yourself.

For years we have been carrying our coffee and cups wrong, it turns out that we are actually exacerbating the problem by exerting more external force whilst moving, which causes our coffee nectar to seep over the edges of the cup.

Personally we can see a few problems with this method, but the results were published in the Science journal — Achievements in the Life Sciences.

By combining a series of tests — we assume this involved drinking mountains of top quality coffee — and equations, the team proved that the over the top of the cup claw-grip was the best to prevent liquid from sloshing out of the vessel when moving.

Despite this information, one of the major issues that this ‘technique’ overlooks is the potential of scalding by the steam coming off your hot coffee. Not only is there a scalding risk, this technique doesn’t exactly work with every type of cup!

Flimsy cardboard cups can literally fold under the pressure, we’re beginning to wonder if this journal is even worth the paper it’s been written on…

The scientists did come up with a further solution though, but we’re not sure if you would want to be seen walking backwards to your table in a coffee shop just so you lower the risk of spillage.

Mr Han, of the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, explained: ‘By walking backwards, we are able to significantly change the frequency characteristics of our hand motion….leading to a subsequent decrease in the probability of coffee spilling.

‘Of course, walking backwards may be less of a practical.’

We think you’re definitely right about that Mr Han!

But what caused this to even be considered a problem? Well, by holding our cups from the side, we are maximising the odds that coffee will spill as the liquid sloshes more violently — think waves on a rock face — by holding the cup over the top the liquid stalls almost still in comparison.

Another factor thrown up by this report is that foamy drinks are much less likely to spill as the foam behaves differently under the same pressure than that of say water. So latte, cappuccino and foamy coffee drinkers need not worry (as much)!

We reckon you’re just better off just sticking a lid on your cup! You can get ‘spill-ready’ right here or you could simply use one of our easy carry trays or clutches to help minimise the risk of spillage…

If you’d like to read the full technical data behind this study, including some seriously confusing graphs and equations, then check out the Achievement in the Life Sciences publication.