Why the US Navy never washes coffee cups

Here at UK Vending we’re not a particularly superstitious lot. We’re quite level-headed and normal, but it came to our attention that there are some people who are…well let’s just say, a little superstitious and that includes US Navy Chief’s.

Chiefs are the men and women who, well basically, run the ship’s and submarines of the US Navy. While the officers give the orders and the sailors do the work, Chiefs are the people who make it all happen. On face value they don’t appear to be the superstitious type, and they’re not for the most part, but when it comes to their coffee cups, they most definitively are.

No one really knows why, but it is considered bad luck in the US Navy to wash or clean a coffee cup. The cups can have layer upon layer of grim but woo betide anyone who attempts to clean said cup. Such behaviour from a sailor could land them in serious trouble with a reprimand on their records. No really!

Some suggestions why the US Navy allows this practice is that the dirtier the cup, the higher the person’s seniority onboard their ship, or perhaps it could be simply that some people consider years of coffee residue on the inside and outside of the cup adds ‘another level of flavour’.