More and more classic paper cups are coming back in all sorts of designs and materials. A while back I purchased a to-go cup (to the right) made of porcelain that is fashioned to look like a regular paper coffee cup. The name is appropriately ‘I Am Not a Paper Cup’ and it is sold at the MoMa Store. The cup is designed by James Burgess and made out of hefty double-walled porcelain with a silicon rubber cover.
Admittedly, it is a great design, but if you are wanting to keep things hot for a long time and hold a lot of coffee, it would be better to find another product. It is functional, but it is more design than function. The coffee will stay hotter longer than a non-capped cup, but not that much longer. The cup volume is also pretty minimal and really only holds about a regular cup’s amount of coffee. Also, the silicon caps will get coffee stained around the mouth, so if you think you will use it a lot and won’t want a brownish-white cap, then I would suggest getting the extra black cover to use instead.
But I must admit that I like to use my cup, and the fact coffee actually cools in it and doesn’t stay undrinkably hot for 30+ minutes is fine with me. Also, it is much better than using paper cups and throwing them away after each use, so it’s better for the environment.
Sagaform out of Sweden has an almost identical item but with a black top and a bit more design to it. It just came out in their Christmas catalog, so it might not be available in online stores yet. Amazon usually carries a lot of Sagaform items so you can probably check back in a month or so and find it there.
But the cups keep coming. At MoMa and the ConranShop you can also can get porcelain crumpled versions of the water cooler cup. Again, they look interesting and will no doubt get some comments at a party. The site suggests using them for coffee, condiments, and desserts. They are dishwasher safe, so hopefully the crumpled surface won’t be too hard to clean.
Then there is a stemware option for cups too. The Conran Shop has two Seletti glass beaker glasses. One is on a stem and the other is without. So there is a water cooler wine glass now too if you want to use it for that. Part of me thinks this just looks a bit weird though, and I wouldn’t be using it for a wine tasting.
