Guide to takeaway coffee cups

As a food or hospitality business owner, you know how important it is to leave a lasting impression on your clients. The provision of environmentally friendly packaging is the pinnacle of customer service. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for responsibly packaged goods.

There is a wide variety of drink containers available, which might make it difficult to find environmentally friendly disposable coffee cups. 

If you own a café, coffee shop, drinks stand, or any other business that sells hot or cold beverages to customers, this article will help you choose the best takeaway coffee cups and accessories for your establishment.

First Steps: Coffee Cup Dimensions

What size is that, exactly? Coffee cup sizes might be difficult to label. That's not even considering the various coffee beverages, like macchiatos and frappuccinos, that you could provide. 

You need takeaway coffee cups and coffee cup lids of the appropriate size for the range of hot beverages on your menu. 
 

Coffee Cups, Disposable and Reusable

Once you've determined the quantity of drinks you'll be selling, you can start planning the most cost-effective and visually appealing packaging for them.

Below, we've described the most common coffee cup designs, ranging from our most basic packaging to our most luxurious:

Single Walls

These paperboard cups are great for cold beverages because of their single layer. Serving hot beverages from these requires a coffee cup sleeve and sometimes a warning label. These single wall coffee cups are a popular option for eco-friendly enterprises on a budget due to their low price and high efficiency.

Double Walls

Double-walled designs, like those found on our best-selling coffee cups, provide excellent insulation and durability. Customers won't need to spend extra on a sleeve to keep their hands safe, making them perfect for hot beverages. The double wall coffee cups are more durable, solid and easy to carry, and come with higher price points than single wall cups as well.

Lining Options for Single-Use Coffee Cups

A disposable coffee cup's liner will keep your beverage inside. Your coffee cups would be rendered unusable if there was no lining to prevent liquids from being absorbed by the packaging.

Coffee cup interiors can be made from a variety of materials. Disposal considerations for used coffee cups change depending on the application of these materials:

PLA-lined compostable coffee cups

PLA (polylactic acid), a compostable and biodegradable polymer, is used to line compostable coffee cups. The barrier provided by PLA is natural, glossy, and resistant to liquids. It can withstand high temperatures, making it suitable for use with hot beverages.

Additionally, because PLA is a natural chemical, it dissolves into organic compounds when given the proper conditions (three to six months). 

Plastics, on the other hand, take centuries to break down and degrade into microplastics, especially if they end up in landfills through ordinary trash disposal.

If there aren't any convenient recycling options near your consumers, consider using PLA-lined coffee cups instead. When thrown away with the trash, compostable and biodegradable cups don't harm the environment as much as plastic containers do.

PE-Lined Coffee Cups, More Suitable for Recycling

The inside and outside of recyclable coffee cups are polished to a sheen thanks to a polythene (PE) lining. These cups are great for both hot and cold drinks.

The glossy exterior coating keeps condensation from wetting the outside of the cup, while the inside PE layer keeps liquid from seeping through the wall.

Reasons to Use Takeaway Coffee Cups

There are three benefits that can't be denied:

• The convenience of disposable cups is unmatched by other types of drinking containers.
• Having a selection of sizes and styles to choose from makes it easy for businesses to serve customers who prefer specific beverages.
• Easily disposed of after use, paper coffee cups can be recycled or composted at home or on a large scale.

Paper coffee cups are naturally biodegradable because they are created from renewable resources. They are more environmentally friendly than synthetic alternatives since they break down in landfills in a matter of months rather than centuries, unlike plastics