Last year, we brought news of GaeaStar, a Germany- and San Francisco-based startup looking to revolutionize single-use coffee cups by making them out of clay. The terracotta cups would be 3D printable and drew inspiration from the 5,000-year-old Indian tradition of kuhlars, cups chaiwallahs served their streetside brews in. At that time, GaeaStar announced a partnership with Verve Coffee Roasters to serve their cups in some of their California cafes.
And starting this week, as part of the pilot program select Verve cafes in Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles are giving customers the option of having their drink served in a GaeaStar cup.
Made of just three components—clay, salt, and water, all locally sourced—the kuhlar-inspired cups are eggshell thin and capable of being reused. But their real step forward comes when it is time to dispose of them. Instead of requiring any sort of special receptacle, GaeaStar cups can be thrown directly in the trash, where they will easily return back to dirt.
As part of the pilot program at Verve, customers can opt to have their coffee served in a 12oz GaeaStar cup for an additional $2.00. They can then choose to dispose of them after use, or they can return them to participating Verve locations for a discount on their next drink, per the press release.
“Our partnership with GaeaStar has the potential to transform the future of to-go coffee. We know it’s not always convenient for customers to bring their own cup, so this is the perfect solution, enabling elevated in-cafe experiences with the convenience of to-go, and without the guilt of takeaway packaging,” said Colby Barr, CEO and co-founder of Verve Coffee Roasters. “Verve has always focused on crafting the future of coffee, and that means protecting its future – including being incredibly mindful of our impact on the environment. We’re excited to offer our customers a new way to enjoy their cup of coffee that brings quality, sustainability, and an elevated experience together.”
3D printed in-store, plastic-free, reusable, and easily disposable (and guilt-free!), the GaeaStar cups offer an environmentally friendly answer to the problem of single-use plastics in coffee cups. And now it’s here in the United States. I’ll smash a terracotta cup to that.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
