The KeepCup brand started as one Melbourne-founded company’s war against disposable cups. It is estimated that every passing minute adds more than a million disposable cups to landfills around the globe. While there are truckloads of reusable cups in every shape and color, they are simply too big to comfortably sit under the vast majority of “group heads” found on espresso machine available in the market. Hence, the company took it upon itself to design and fabricate the original reusable cup measuring up to the barista benchmark.
It is important to remember that while these cups have the word “keep” in their name, it has nothing to do with maintaining temperature! They are intended for enjoying your favorite beverage on the go and cut down on the waste produced by disposable cups, which in turn saves trees.
The cups are such a hit that, in just a little over five years the company has gone global with warehouses in UK and Los Angeles. The company, committed to reducing waste, felt that local printing and assembly contributes towards minimizing environmental trail.
Features:
The very first KeepCups to hit the market were PBA free plastic, and they were available in every color of the rainbow. While they look amazing and are relatively inexpensive, some people complained of odors being retained in the plastic and lid being leaky. These issues have since been improved, and any irregular finished cups are sold as no lid misfits to avoid any leakage from the lids. Better quality testing now ensures that the cups leaving the production line have a strong dependable seal, and all lid models have been improved.
The new version of the cups are made from strong borosilicate glass have colorful lids with matching bands which serve to protect hands against heat. They are dishwasher safe and can be used with the lid or without it. The new improved lids are no longer leaky and even the mouth piece of the lid is redesigned. A larger drinking hole makes taking a sip easier and you can better smell the aromas compared to when it was smaller.
The cups are available in 4, 6, 8, 12 and 16 oz. sizes. The eight ounce cup is comparable to the small size of a café while the twelve ounce is equivalent to their large size. This means you can just hand it to the barista at your favorite coffee bar to fill it up, without worrying about size difference or leaving behind a trail of waste paper cups. Not only are the cups great for beverages, you can pretty much carry anything in them, like milk, soups or fruit salad. With the addition of the smaller models, carrying cream, milk, or espresso shots can be done with convenience and a green conscience.
There are even Limited Edition KeepCups with cork. These cups are possibly intended to cater to the taste of the specialty coffee connoisseurs with a more stunning or sophisticated look. but the idea is that cork is a green resource. The material is sourced from the historical cork oak jungles of Portugal. The cork is feather light, biodegradable and antibacterial not to mention that it shields the hand form the hot beverage. Other limited edition series include movie inspired designs such as Star Wars. If you still don’t find a cup that pleases you from the extensive number of models, you might prefer to design your own directly on their website. Start from a blank canvas and combine all the colors you want. Any sized cup and model can be used to create your own design. Fun feature for some I am sure.
Last Word:
If you want your beverage to stay hot for a long time, then obviously the KeepCup is not the right option for you. It does just as well as traditional travel mugs but offers the consumer the conscious market option of going green instead of adding to the problem. Considering that in a single year five hundred billion throwaway cups are produced and roughly fifty percent of the plastic fabricated is used in one time use items, means a lot of waste is created. Approximately 30 disposable cups with lids contain sufficient plastic to make a single KeepCup. Fifteen uses of the KeepCup are sufficient to break even with the energy used in producing the said cup. Just from the environmental standpoint, KeepCups are a great purchase for coffee and tea drinkers looking for a short travel solution such as commuting to work. If you plan on buying another travel mug, than why not a one of these, or any other truly ecologically produced containers. Not limited to hot beverages, they can double for other food items and condiments, and do provide better lids than most travel mugs.
