Normally I like articles like this, but he lost me here:

Reaching for my mug is a commitment. It is a reminder that, “Hey, we’re focusing elsewhere for moment. Don’t screw this up. I’m hot.”

Really? I think he just needed an interesting-sounding paragraph and made that up on the spot. I bet he had never thought of it that way before. Ah, over-analysis. If you think hard enough, you can make anything sound incredibly complicated.

I would be a surprised if someone could pass a blind taste test and tell ceramic from aluminum or plastic for the relatively short time coffee is exposed to them.