dr. hongbin “bill” ma, a professor in the university of missouri mechanical and aerospace engineering department and director of the college of engineering center for thermal management, turned his love for coffee and his frustration at keeping his daily starbucks coffee at the right temperature for a longer period of time.

dr. ma used his thermal engineering expertise to design a new coffee mug. (vimeo)

according to a recent article in the missourian, dr. ma took his thermal expertise (more than 140 published papers) and put it to good use. his startup company, thermavant international (with support from the university of missouri) announced that it has filed a patent application for the lexo mug and has begun production on its new product.

the thermavant lexo uses a bio-based phase change material inside the stainless steel, vacuum-insulated tumbler that instantly brings coffee to a temperature suitable for drinking and sustains that drinking temperature for hours. this works for ice water as well as hot liquids, according to the website.

in a report on the school website, ma explained that lexo mug takes two minutes to bring the coffee to the optimal drinking temperature of 140°f and can maintain that temperature for up to eight hours through the phase-change material’s ability to draw heat from the liquid and then store it that heat to

as the missourian explained, dr. ma and his team used published studies to determine the proper drinking temperatures and settled on 140°f. the name of the mug, lexo, is an acronym for “latent heat, equilibrium, x-material, and oh, wow!”

learn more about the lexo in the video below: