This summer, I got an electric kettle for my birthday and I’m really getting into making tea and french press coffee. I started grinding beans and making coffee in the morning. I love the smell and process of making french press coffee and can’t believe it took me this long to discover it.

My newfound love of coffee at home had a limitation, though. I could never find a travel mug that I like. I always preferred the old school ceramic coffee mug and no travel mug felt like that.

I had a couple of stainless steel mugs, but I didn’t love them. I tried the Tervis tumbler style mugs, but I didn’t like them either. I was looking for a mug that was a little more substantial and didn’t have a plastic lid.

A few weeks ago, I was in Starbucks and noticed a ceramic travel mug. I hadn’t seen a mug quite like it and bought one. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it was exactly what I was looking for so I bought a second one, too.

The Starbucks Double Wall Traveler is a fully ceramic travel mug. Even the lid is ceramic. The lid has a silicone seal to keep the coffee from spilling. It's heavier than most travel mugs and fits perfectly in my car cup holders. There's a little rubber circle on the bottom to keep it from sliding around.

There are tradeoffs. It only holds 12 oz. of coffee (but it looks bigger than that). You can’t microwave it and they recommend washing by hand. But none of those issues are a problem for me.

The designs that I bought aren’t available online right now, although the Navy one is similar to the first one I purchased. Starbucks seems to continuously add and retire designs. There are a couple of nice designs in the store right now that weren't available a couple of months ago.

If you are looking to give a gift this holiday season for a coffee-loving loved one, these mugs might be a cool gift.

I had one of those geek out moments with a client this week. I mentioned that I typically drink a cup of Earl Grey tea each morning. To which he responded: "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." After we stopped laughing, we had to explain Captain Picard's obsession with Earl Grey tea to some confused coworkers.

Afterwards, I had to come to the realization that a TV show that aired in 1987 effects my behavior today.

I was in middle school when the fictional Star Trek captain first ordered his beverage of choice from the replicator. At the time, we had hot tea in the house, but it was Mint or Lemon-flavored. I mostly would drink it when I was sick. But there was no Earl Grey that I remember.

Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for a long time and still runs in syndication today. I'm not sure when I started to drink Earl Grey, but it was sometime during or just after college. I'm sure I decided to buy some tea and when faced with too many options, I simply went with the option I "knew."

It makes me wonder just how many other choices I've made are directly or indirectly traced back to television and media. I know I have a slight Nike bias because I grew up in Chicago during the Michael Jordan years. But other than Earl Grey and an affinity for Nike, I can't think of any other long lasting influence that a show or movie has made on me. I'm sure there are many more but I can't piece them together right now.

That said, I really like my Earl Grey tea. And I'll happily have a cup every morning. But I'll probably never think of it the same way again.