Early mugs were often used for beer and were larger than modern ones, and clay or metal versions had thick walls unsuited to drinking. Porcelain, invented in China around 600 AD, allowed thin walls for hot and cold drinks. During World War II the US Navy asked for a coffee mug that would not tip over on ships, and Victor Insulators, a maker of high-voltage porcelain insulators, won with a thick-walled white mug. After the war Victor added a handle and tapered body, and the design was widely copied.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.