Sustainable coffee: How to find a cup that doesn’t cost the Earth

This is a collaborative guest post.

The love of coffee and the love of the environment haven’t always married up perfectly for people. A lot of coffee lovers are shocked when they find out that the vast majority of takeaway coffee cups aren’t recycled. This means that you could be having a negative impact on the environment when you pick up your daily coffee, even if you are putting your cup in the recycling.

The coffee industry in general has made a big effort to be more sustainable and environmentally-friendly. We all have a role to play. Luckily, this can be as simple as finding your own sustainable coffee cup and taking it out and about with you.

Benefits of a sustainable coffee cup

We’ve already underlined the fact that your own coffee cup is important for the environment, but that’s not the only reason to pick one up. What are the benefits of having a reusable coffee cup?

• Take your coffee with you. Whether you have a filter coffee machine, bean to cup coffee machine, or a pod machine at home, you can use your cup to make a coffee to go when you are about to leave the home. Most of us don’t have takeaway cups sitting in our home, but with a sustainable cup you can always have a way to take your coffee for your commute to work, for example.
• You may get a discount. A lot of high street coffee shops will be more than happy to let you use your cup. If you give it to them when you’re ordering, they will be able to make your drink straight into your cup for you. Because this is better for the shops (they save money, and it is more responsible for the company) there are a lot of companies offering a discount if you bring your own cup.
• Cool designs. There are so many different coffee cups that you can buy. You can even have more than one cup so you can mix it up! They make great gifts for other coffee lovers, too.

Using your coffee machine with a reusable cup

One of the best things about a reusable cup is the fact that you can use it alongside your coffee machine. If you have a filter coffee machine then it is extremely easy to simply pour your coffee into your reusable cup.

A key benefit of this is that you don’t have to buy coffee in coffee shops. Many of the coffee cups on the market can even keep your coffee warm for a long period of time, so that means you can take it to work with you or elsewhere. This “price watch study” shows you roughly what the price is in a variety of high-street locations where you can buy coffee. Look for the drink you normally order. You can sometimes save 60% or 70%, or even more by brewing your own coffee at home.

If you have a pod coffee machine or a bean to cup coffee machine, the brewing process will be exactly the same. Instead of using a mug, put your reusable cup under the coffee dispenser and let it do its brewing.

Considerations when buying a cup

A few things to think about when you are looking to buy a coffee cup include:

• The size of the cup. A lot of coffee machines will be able to make coffee in a variety of different sizes. Do you want a cup for a double espresso or for a latte? You will want to get the right size to suit your favourite beverages. You might even want multiple cups.
• Does it keep coffee warm? This might be an essential feature, especially if you drink slowly or if you live in a place where the climate is cold and you might find your beverage quickly becoming cold if you don’t drink up.

Example: Ember Temperature Control Ceramic Mug

The Ember Temperature Control mug is such a cool way to drink coffee. It’s made of ceramic to keep the coffee warm anyway, but it actually has a battery and detects when the coffee is getting cool.

It has a charging coaster, too. While it sits next to your desk, it can charge back up ready for the evening commute. The coffee cup is 10 oz, which is about right for a lot of barista-style drinks like cappuccinos.

You can read more about the technology behind these mugs here. These cups are among the more expensive on the market due to this extra technology, but there are plenty of great cups available for a fraction of the price.

Conclusion

It’s everyone’s responsibility to be sustainable and to think about the ways that you can help the environment. When it comes to coffee, you might not think that those takeaway cups do too much damage, but the fact that so few are actually recycled, combined with the fact that coffee is so popular, means that a reusable cup can make all the difference.