It’s hard to believe I wasn’t always a keep cup user with the way I harp on about the benefits of reusable coffee cups now. I tell everyone I know about how damaging to the environment takeaway coffee cups are because they can’t be recycled due to their wax-coated paper insides.
And sure, some takeaway cups are in fact now recyclable, not to mention, their lids always were (I really hope you were at least recycling their lids!), but still — why even create waste, even if it is recyclable when that can so easily be prevented with a keep cup.
Despite knowing all this, I still, for some reason, refused to use one. And, when I say ‘for some reason’, really, I know exactly what the reason was — and it’s the same one I hear again and again from friends (and anyone else subjected to my lecturing) who have yet to convert to a keep cup. The reason is that didn’t want the hassle of carrying around a cup all day.
Though it wouldn’t have been as much of a nuisance on weekdays when I went into work (back when we went in five days a week) as I could’ve carried the cup in my big work bag and washed it in the office kitchen, I always thought a keep cup would’ve been particularly annoying to have on the weekends when I would get coffee before a big day of one thing to the next — coastal walks, life admin and socialising. I just didn’t want to be clutching a cup or having it clank around in a bag all day.
Also, I liked to have extra-large coffees (‘grande’, if you will), if I had the option. I didn’t want a regular-sized keep cup that would keep me restricted to regular-sized coffees, even if the shop had the option for a size upgrade. What can I say — I really like my coffee.
But that was two years ago — up until the day my excuses fell flat on their faces when I arrived at work one morning and saw a collapsible coffee cup that expanded to an extra-large size sitting on my desk. My lovely, eco-friendly deskmate Nat had bought it for me. And I’ve used it for nearly every single one of my takeaway coffees — not to mention talked about it nonstop — ever since.
Nat had gotten me the Stojo Biggie 16oz, $29.95, that comes with a removable straw (I don’t use the straw) and a heat sleeve (I do use this). The cup, along with the regular-sized 12oz, is dishwasher-safe (though I just handwash it) and made without harmful BPAs, phthalates, leads or glues and, when fully collapsed, can fit into the palm of my hand. It’s so slim it can even fit in my small handbag, meaning I can use it for coffee and then stash it away in the bag for the rest of the day.
Honestly, it’s so good, I’m baffled as to why other brands aren’t making these kinds of collapsible coffee cups, too. I really feel that if everyone had one, they, too, would make the switch to a keep cup. And, I’m guessing, like me, would be pestering everyone else to swap over, too.
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