The Product
Ember Technologies shipped its Tumbler 2 on Sept. 29, pricing the 16-ounce temperature-controlled tumbler at $179 in black and Sandstone colorways. The launch simultaneously retires two earlier SKUs — the Travel Mug 2 and the original Tumbler — consolidating Ember's portable drinkware line into a single next-generation vessel. Travel Mug 2 will remain on sale while inventory lasts.
Retail Footprint
The Tumbler 2 went live at ember.com and in Target stores and on Target's website at launch. Amazon availability follows on Oct. 19, expanding the product's reach into Ember's highest-volume online channel. The dual-retailer day-one rollout signals a deliberate push to capture impulse purchases ahead of the holiday gifting season, a critical window for premium drinkware and specialty beverage accessories.
What Changed
The redesigned body is slimmer and taller than the outgoing Tumbler, engineered to seat inside a standard car cup holder — a functional gap the original could not fill. On-device temperature control, first introduced with the Mug 3, arrives on the Tumbler 2: a single button press sets 125 degrees Fahrenheit, with each subsequent press adding five degrees up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Owners can also adjust temperature via the Ember app. Indicator lights on the body display battery status during coaster charging; a full charge delivers up to two hours and 45 minutes of active temperature maintenance with either included lid in place.
The product ships with two lids — a leak-proof Handle Lid and a one-hand Sliding Lid — giving foodservice commuters and outdoor users flexibility depending on context. The top-rack dishwasher-safe construction, also borrowed from the Mug 3 platform, lowers the barrier to daily use and addresses a longstanding maintenance complaint about premium smart-mug ownership.
Why It Matters for the Trade
For specialty coffee operators and foodservice equipment buyers, Ember's product trajectory illustrates a broader premiumization trend in hot-beverage accessories: consumers are increasingly willing to invest $150-plus in vessels that maintain the precise brew temperature dialed in by a barista. At $179, Tumbler 2 sits at a price point that competes with single-serve espresso machine accessories rather than conventional insulated tumblers, reinforcing the brand's positioning as a technology platform rather than a commodity drinkware supplier.
Matt Murray, chief executive of Ember, framed the launch as a portability extension of the brand's existing temperature-control heritage. "We built our mugs for the kitchen table and the desk," Murray said. "Tumbler 2 carries the temperature-control technology Ember is known for out the door, keeping drinks exactly the way you want wherever the day leads."
The Tumbler 2 launch also narrows Ember's SKU count, a move that can improve retailer shelf-space efficiency and reduce supply-chain complexity — both factors that matter as the brand scales its mass-retail presence through partners such as Target.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
