Coffee Joulies are small, stainless-steel capsules of phase change material designed to be placed in a covered, insulated container cup of coffee to keep it at a drinkable temperature for a longer period of time. They came out of a Kickstarter project launched by Dave Petrillo and Dave Jackson in Tahoe City, California.
The Kickstarter project launched around March 27, 2011 and was fully funded three days later, even though the funding target didn't need to be met for thirty days.[1][2] After the early success of the Kickstarter project, Petrillo left Lutron Electronics Company to focus on the production, which will occur at Sherrill Manufacturing in Sherrill, New York.[3][4][5] The team decided to continue with production in the United States, rather than moving to Mexico, as was their initial plan.[5][6][7]
The project was at 300% of the target funding level by April 1, 2011.[8] As of 9 April 2011[update], the project had raised $128,000 by 2200 backers, while the original project target was only $9500, and the dies for stamping were expected to cost $20,000.[4][5]
The phase change material used has a melting point of 140 °F (60 °C).[9]