Use & Safety

Last updated November 10, 2026

A cup you carry every day asks for only a few habits: the right lid for the drink, a careful first sip when it is hot, nothing fizzy or frozen behind a closed lid, and a clean lid and straw. This page brings them together for every RIME product. Please read it before the first use, along with the product page and any instructions in the box. If the instructions in the box ever say something different from this page, follow the more cautious of the two and tell us.

Before the first use

• Check what came in the box: compare it with “In the box” on the product page, and make sure every part is there and undamaged.
• Check the cup itself: no dent, no crack, and the base cap, if it has one, firmly in place. See Dents, cracks and the base.
• Check the color before the first fill: anything that has held a drink or food cannot be returned for a change of mind. See The food-contact rule.
• Learn the lid while the cup is empty: open and close it a few times, so you know how it works before there is a drink inside.
• Wash every part in warm soapy water, rinse it and let it dry before the first fill.
• Pick the right product for the drink: the straw tumblers and the Flip Bottle 24 for cold drinks, the mugs for hot drinks, the Food Jar 14 for food. See Straw lids are for cold drinks.
• Throw away the plastic wrapping, and keep it away from babies and young children until it is gone.

Hot drinks

Hot liquids can scald. For a hot drink, use the Commute Mug 12, the Flip Top Mug 12 or the Camp Mug 12, and:

• fill it below the top, leaving a little room;
• close the lid fully: screw it on until it is snug, or press it on all the way round;
• open it slowly, pointing it away from you and from anyone near you: hot steam can come out first;
• let it cool a little before the first sip, and take that sip slowly. The outside of a closed insulated cup does not tell you how hot the drink inside is;
• set it down on a flat, steady surface, away from the edge of a table or a counter;
• keep hot drinks out of the reach of children, never hand a hot drink to a child, and never hold a hot drink while you hold a child.

Never carry a hot drink in a straw lid: see the next section. The Food Jar 14 has its own section below.

Straw lids are for cold drinks

Never use a straw or a flip-straw lid with a hot drink. A straw brings the drink straight to your mouth, all at once, before you can feel how hot it is, and a hot drink can scald.

• The Daily Tumbler 40, the Flip Tumbler 30, the Snap Tumbler 40 and the Flip Bottle 24 have straw lids: use them with cold drinks only.
• The Shaker Bottle 20 is for cold drinks only.
• Use the Slim Bottle 20 with cold drinks until the maker confirms in writing whether it can take a hot one.
• For a hot drink, use the Commute Mug 12, the Flip Top Mug 12 or the Camp Mug 12.

Do not chew a straw, a spout or a mouthpiece. Stop using a straw or a spout that is cracked, split or chewed, and write to us.

No microwave, no oven, no freezer

• Never in the microwave: our products are made of steel. Metal in a microwave can spark and damage the microwave, and the cup can get very hot. This applies to the lids and the spork too.
• Never in the oven, on a stove or near a flame: not on a burner, a hot plate, a grill or a campfire, and not to warm up a drink or food. Heat it in a pan or a kettle first, then pour it in.
• Never in the freezer: do not freeze a cup, empty or full, and do not fill it with water to freeze. Water expands as it turns to ice, and it can damage the lid, the seals and the walls. For a cold drink, add ice.
• Freezing weather: do not leave a cup with a drink inside in a car or outside on a freezing night.

Carbonated drinks and dry ice

• Carbonated drinks: do not carry a carbonated drink, such as sparkling water or soda, in any of our products with the lid or the cap closed. The gas builds pressure, and it can push the lid, the cap or the drink out suddenly. Never shake a fizzy drink, in the Shaker Bottle 20 or in any other cup.
• Drinks that can turn: do not leave milk, a milk drink or juice in a closed cup for a long time. It can spoil, and as it spoils it can build pressure too.
• Dry ice: never put dry ice in any of our products. As it warms, dry ice turns into gas, and in a closed cup the pressure can make the lid or the cap burst off. Dry ice can also burn on contact.
• Opening: if a closed cup feels under pressure, open it slowly, pointing it away from your face and from anyone near you.

Children and small parts

• Straws, caps, spouts, plugs, seals and the strainer are small parts, or can come off as small parts. They are not for young children, who can choke on them. Keep them out of the reach of young children, and check after every wash that each part is back in place.
• Our products are not toys, and they are not meant for children to use without an adult.
• Never give a hot drink or hot food to a child in one of our products, and never let a child carry one.
• Do not use the Food Jar 14 or any of our cups for baby formula or for a baby’s food.
• If a child swallows a part or has trouble breathing, call 911 at once.

Cleaning the lid, the straw and the seals

A drink left in a lid, a straw or under a seal can grow mold. A few minutes at the sink after every use is the habit that matters:

1. Take it apart: the lid, the cover or the cap, the straw, and every seal that lifts out, as the product page shows.
2. Wash every part in warm soapy water. Run a straw brush through the straw and the spout, and rinse under the covers, the tabs and the hinges.
3. Let every part dry fully, apart, before you put it back together. Store the cup with its lid off.

• Rinse a cup soon after it has held milk, a milk drink, juice or anything sweet, and do not leave a drink sitting in it for a long time.
• Put every seal back in its groove, the way it came out. A lid without its seal, or with a twisted seal, can let the drink out.
• Use a soft sponge or a bottle brush. Do not use bleach, harsh cleaners, scouring pads or steel wool: they can damage the coating, the plastic and the seals.
• If you see mold, dark spots or a smell that does not wash out, stop using that part and write to us.

Dents, cracks and the base

• Stop using a cup that is dented or cracked, or whose base cap is loose or missing, and write to us. Check a cup after it has been dropped or knocked, before you use it again.
• Why the base matters: on some vacuum-insulated cups, the vacuum between the two walls is sealed under the base with a small amount of sealing material, covered by a cap or a plate that must stay in place. We are asking the maker which sealing material ours use, with a lab report for our units. See The base of a vacuum-insulated cup.
• Never remove, pry, drill or cut the base cap or the bottom of a cup, and never try to open the walls.
• Keep a damaged cup away from children, and do not pass it on to anyone else.
• Stop using a lid, a cover or a cap that is cracked, that no longer closes, or whose hinge is broken.

If it happens within 30 days of delivery, it is a defect: see Defective, damaged or wrong items. After that, please write to us anyway.

The Food Jar and hot food

1. Warm it first: for hot food, fill the jar with hot water, close it and wait a few minutes, then pour the water out. For cold food, do the same with cold water.
2. Start hot, or start cold: add food that is already hot, heated in its own pan or dish, or food that is already cold from the refrigerator. Never heat food in the jar.
3. Leave a little room at the top, and screw the lid on until it is snug.
4. Open it slowly, pointing it away from your face: hot food steams.
5. Eat hot food within a few hours, and refrigerate what is left.

We publish no time for the Food Jar 14, for hot food or for cold, and we promise none. Bacteria grow in food that is left lukewarm: when in doubt, throw it away. Wash the jar, the lid, its seal and the spork after every use, and let them dry apart, lid off.

The Shaker Bottle

• Use it with cold liquids only, never hot, never carbonated.
• Pour in the liquid first, then what you want to mix, and leave room at the top.
• Put the strainer in, screw the lid on until it is snug, close the cap, and check that the storage base is screwed on firmly before you shake.
• Open the cap pointing away from your face and from anyone near you.
• Rinse it right after use, then take it apart and wash the lid, the cap, the strainer, the bottle and the storage base. Do not leave a mixed drink in it for a long time.

In the car

• Fill the cup and close it before you leave.
• Keep it in a cup holder, or in a place where it cannot roll or tip over: never loose on a seat, on the dashboard or between your knees.
• Never reach for it, open it or drink from it while driving. Pull over and park first.
• A hot drink travels in a mug with its lid fully closed, never in a straw lid.
• We have not yet confirmed which cup holders our products sit in: we are measuring the bases. Check that the cup sits firmly in your cup holder while the car is parked, before you drive.
• Do not leave a cup with a drink inside in a parked car on a freezing night, or a carbonated drink in a closed cup anywhere.

Dishwashers

Whether each part of each product can go in a dishwasher is being confirmed with the maker, part by part (the body, the lid, the straw, the seals) and for the coating. Until it is confirmed in writing, wash every part by hand, as described above. Once we have the maker’s instructions, we will publish them on each product page and on this page.

Recalls and safety notices

If we ever need to recall a product or share a safety notice, we will e-mail everyone who bought it, using the e-mail address given with the order. We will also post a notice on this page and on the product page, explaining clearly what to do and how we will put it right. Product recalls in the United States are also published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission at CPSC.gov/Recalls.

Reporting a problem

If you think one of our products is unsafe, or something happened with it, stop using it and keep it out of reach. If someone is hurt, get medical help first, and in an emergency, call 911.

Then e-mail us at contact@rimecups.com with “Safety” in the subject line: the product, its color, your order number if you have it, what happened and, if you can, photos of the product, the part concerned and the packaging. Please keep the product: we may ask to see it. We answer within 2 business days, and faster when we can. We keep a record of every report and, when the law requires it, report to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

You can also report a product safety incident directly to the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov. How we handle the information in a report is explained in our Privacy Policy.