Tag: paper coffee cups

What should your coffee cup be made of?

Posted on by Sara Walker

coffee-691464_640Paper, polystyrene, china, pottery, glass, metal….it seems you can made a coffee cup out of more or less anything, but what’s it doing to the taste of the drink? We take a look at what to use and when to use it.

Paper
Paper cups are often seen at events and in situations where breakable cups aren’t an option. For the cafe owner, the advantages are that they’re lightweight to transport and cheap to use. For the consumer, they’re discardable and great for taking drinks away, but don’t insulate very well and can be uncomfortable to hold as a result. Some paper cups are fitted with corrugated outer insulating layers or cardboard slip covers to reduce this problem.
Polystyrene
Polystyrene cups are lightweight and non-breakable, and as they have much thicker walls they have better insulation qualities. However, they’re not very ‘green’ as they can’t be made from recycled materials or recycled themselves, and they can make the coffee taste a bit funny and plasticky.
Glass
Using glass cups for coffee is a fairly modern institution, and was introduced to showcase drinks such as latte which has distinct layers. Like ceramic materials, glass doesn’t affect the flavour of the coffee but doesn’t hold heat as well as china and pottery.
Metal
Metal mugs are normally used for camping and brewing up your coffee outdoors. Look for mugs coated with enamel or made from stainless steel, as aluminium mugs can taint coffee. Hot drinks in metal cups lose heat quickly.
Ceramic
Ceramic cups are probably the oldest type of manmade drinking vessel, and are what most of us still drink our coffee from now. Ceramic ranges from fine bone china to thick, chunky pottery, but all ceramic cups have the advantage that they hold heat well and don’t taint the drink.
Take a look at our range of paper coffee ups here.

Could super-eco coffee cups be the next big thing?

Posted on by Sara Walker

california-eco-plantable-coffee-cupsAt the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’ve always concerned about environmental and ethical issues, so we were interested to hear about a new super-eco plantable coffee cup that’s helping to protect the environment.

Invented in California (where else?), the cup is being marketed by a company called Reduce Reuse Grow, and the difference is that it’s packed with seeds. The seeds are currently only suitable for use in California as the blend is a Californian native seed reforestation mix, but if the prototype proves a commercial success the company may consider introducing other seed blends for other locations. After consumers throw the cup away in a special bin, the company undertake to plant it in one of three nature parks, and say that they’ve already planted 140,000 cups.

So far, none of the big US coffee chains has adopted the cups, partly as the technology is so new but also as they’re more expensive than regular cups. The eco cups weigh in at $0.02 each (just over £0.01), making them a cent more than conventional cups. For big chains, this can soon add up, given that Americans drink around 400 million cups of coffee a day.

The Plantable Coffee Cups biodegrade completely in 180 days, and each cup is capable of growing one tree. The company’s founder, Alex Henige, is planning to use the same technology to produce other food packaging products such as boxes. It seems that there’s plenty of support for the scheme, as it raised $20,000 in a month through a crowd-funding Kickstarter campaign to enable to cups to be produced commercially.

These cups are still at an early stage in their commercial development, but we’ll be interested to see what happens longer term.

In the meantime, take a look at our range of paper cups on the Wholesale Coffee Company main website.

The history of paper cups

Posted on by Sara Walker

paper cupNowadays, modern life is so busy that it’s often more efficient to grab a cup of coffee ‘to go’, served in a disposable, single use paper cup with a lid. These cups are so common now we don’t think about them, but they have a surprisingly long history.

Exactly when paper itself was invented isn’t known, but it was known to have been in use in imperial China in the second century BC. Paper cups followed soon afterwards, used for serving tea. They were made in different colours and sizes, and adorned with decorative designs just like modern-day paper cups.

These early paper cups weren’t capable of holding liquid for any length of time, and the paper cup as we know it today wasn’t developed until the 20th century. Shared water fountains and barrels in schools and public buildings generally had communal ladles or glasses, which became a matter of concern due to the health implications.

In 1908, the first commercial, disposable paper cup was invented in America. Called the ‘Dixie cup’, it was clean, hygienic and easily available, and quickly replaced the communal glasses and ladles.

As well as takeways, cafés and restaurants, many other industries use paper cups, sometimes for ease and sometimes for hygienic reasons. In some cases, the cost of a single use, disposable cup can be cheaper than the proper sterilisation and re-use of a glass or ceramic container.

Cups intended for hot drinks are made in a different way to those intended for water or cold drinks, and usually incorporate an insulated layer, both to keep the drink hot and to help protect the drinker’s fingers from heat.

When fitted with a lid, modern paper cups are a safe, easy options for taking your coffee with you, wherever you go.

To browse our wide range of paper cups, suitable for hot drinks such as coffee, please visit our paper cups section.