If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: I’m tired of mashing coffee grounds onto my face only to have them fall right off. These grounds need to have some sort of hook-like system so you can affix them behind your ears. And maybe sections where your eyes go that come in varying degrees of opacity so you can see where you are going. I’d call them Coffee For Your Mug.
Well, turns out one Ukrainian company has already beat me to the punch. They’re called Ochis Coffee, and they use spent ground to make “coffee glasses” (coffee isn’t usually served in glassware, but whatever), and much to the chagrin of my very well thought out business plan, they’re actually pretty stylish.
As reported by Forbes, most glasses frames are still made of petroleum-based plastic, which as you may have guessed from the words “petroleum” and “plastic”, production of which aren’t all that great for the earth. Like so many companies across innumerable industries have done, Ochis looked to used coffee grounds as a sustainable alternative. By mixing the grounds with flax and a vegetable oil-based biopolymer, Ochis are able to create a durable material that, when you’re done with them, will “biodegrade 100 times faster than standard plastic glasses.”
The result is a frame that “has a pleasant to the touch matte texture” and “softly [smells] like freshly roasted coffee,” per their successful 2018 Kickstarter. Ochis are water-resistant with an expected lifespan over five years, and when you are done with them, you can leave them in water and/or soil and they will become fertilizer.
The driving force behind Ochis, founder and CEO Maksym Havrylenko, “grew up in a family of opticians” and has 15 years experience in the eyewear industry. His goal was to “create something new and natural,” Havrylenko tells Forbes. “We started our search for a perfect material that can be recycled. Coffee was that perfect one because it is a very popular drink. People consume 2.5 million cups of coffee per day all over the world.”
Currently, Ochis Coffee has a “small series production” but Havrylenko expects production to expand significantly in the coming years: to 10,000 pairs by 2020 and 100,000 in 2021. The original line is currently available for $89 (with free international shipping) via Ochis’s website, and their new Lite Edition—with a brand new color option that looks like a reimagined tortoise shell—is available for pre-order for $139 through September 16th.
For more information or to order a pair of your own, visit Ochis Coffee official website. And be on the lookout for my Coffee For Your Mug Kickstarter once I figure out how to get coffee on your face without directly infringing on Ochis intellectual property.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Top image via Ochis Coffee
