(A)DD: Cherry Blossom Heat Change Mug

Spring came a little bit early this year and as a result, the Pacific Northwest is covered in blossoms. Everything just looks so fluffy and magical when the fruit trees are in bloom, and it’s usually just a flash in the pan, then they’re gone. I’m trying not to talk about it too much because I know as soon as I do, all of the blossoms will fall off and it’ll be a whole year until they come back again. Seattle’s got a Cherry Blossom Festival at the end of this month that might be a little bit lacking in the blossom department.

This mug surprised me while I was surfing Vat19 – an appropriately vague name for a site full of weird, clever, and extremely interesting things.

This is a heat change mug. Yes, like the one you had when you were a kid; the one with the balloons that filled in with color or the clown that got more terrifying once you added cocoa… Anything novelty like this is “the coolest!!1” when you’re a kid, but you get less comfortable rocking a Sonic The Hedgehog mug at your first job out of college. (Even though it maybe never stopped being your favorite mug and when there’s coffee in it, it sort of makes you feel better about pretty much everything.)

This will fix that particular not-a-real-adult-but-faking-it issue. This mug has a rather attractive and painterly tree when empty or cold, and when filled with warm or hot liquid, pink cherry blossoms slowly start filling in between the branches. It’s cute.

Check it out!: Cherry Blossom Heat Change Mug, $9.99 at Vat19

I haven’t had such a gimmicky novelty mug since I was a kid, but this seems to be a more “age-appropriate” version of a childhood favorite. This makes me wonder if there are other awesomely adult grown up heat-changing mugs… (I’m 100% sure there are adult ones.)