KeepCup is the world’s first barista standard reusable cup. Designed for drinking pleasure on the go, hygienic and easy to care for, made to last. They are leading the BYO movement, and baristas actually love them!
Running a café is probably one of the easiest ways to realize how much volume of packaging and coffee cups waste you produce every day. The Forsyth siblings, founders of KeepCup, asked themselves: “How much plastic would each person save with a reusable coffee cup?”
When they realized the impact it could make in the environment; the founders started to look at the alternatives. But they observed they were not suitable enough for specialty coffees: ceramic mugs were heavy, breakable, needing to heat before filling. But also impossible to dose correctly with milk and coffee. Thermoses were bulky and unattractive. And the coffee shot had to be poured into the thermos destroying the cream.
For all these reasons, the alternatives hadn’t won the hearts of consumers. Both options were made of composite materials, making them dishwasher unfriendly and difficult to recycle at the end of life.
Maybe if they could provide an opportunity for you to design your own reusable coffee cup?
KeepCup kickstarted leading to a major behavioural change
KeepCup was born for the consumers to have a beautiful design made and chosen by themselves. The whole point of designing your own coffee cup is that you’ll be proud to carry it with you everywhere.
The brand is on a mission to ensure the world neither wants, needs or uses disposable cups. The results are cups that elevate the taste and drinking pleasure of coffee on the go.
Four years after launch, KeepCup had kick-started a behavioural change in the city of Melbourne, which quickly spread across the world. Also, it has been the beginning of a journey to reduce the consequences of convenience behaviour.
“A movement happens when people talk to one another when ideas spread within the community, and most of all when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing.”
The most beloved reusable coffee cup by baristas
KeepCup designed and manufactured the world’s first barista standard reusable cup, which is actually designed for the coffee maker.
And why for the coffee maker? Because KeepCup drafted vessel ensures the perfect pour, and fits under coffee machine group heads, keeping extraction and crema intact. Their sizes replicate industry standard single-use cup volumes for the right coffee-to-milk ratio, ease of cafe workflow and speed of service.
KeepCup’s are also engineered making them splash-proof; the press fit lid allows room for your nose, while the mouthpiece ensures optimal liquid flow and aroma release. Lovely to drink from with the lid on or off, it’s lightweight, easy to carry and fits comfortably in your hand and cup holders.
The plug closure keeps the mouthpiece covered when not in use, and their products are easily assembled to make cleaning and care easy. All the products are independently lab tested to ensure they’re free from BPA, BPS, phthalates including DEHP, lead and cadmium.
Designed for repair
KeepCup’s are designed with modularity in mind. KeepCups have as few parts as possible, and are designed using durable parts made fit for purpose.
Their use of common parts across multiple products means lost or damaged components can easily be replaced. Modular design means KeepCup’s components fit across multiple products – so that you can replace a part, not the product – reducing your overall impact.
Measuring your impact with KeepCup
KeepCup brings an Impact Calculator which enables individuals and companies to forecast and track their impact, including the energy, carbon and waste savings made by switching to reuse.
By simply introducing the amount of takeaway coffees you order in your KeepCup each week, this simple calculator will show how much you’ve saved in your carbon footprint:
KeepCups have a lower carbon footprint than disposable and reusable alternatives:
- After just 4 uses KeepCup Thermal has lower carbon emissions than a compostable single-use cup. The same is true after 10 uses for our other products.
- After 8 uses KeepCup Thermal has a lower impact than disposable cups, and after 24 uses for our other products.
This is based on drinking one coffee each weekday over eight years for KeepCup Thermal and one coffee each weekday over four years for Original and Brew.
Importantly, their Life Cycle Analysis identified hot spots in our supply chain, the importance of efficient wash practice in extending product life while lowering the footprint of a KeepCup, and helped them dispel some of the greenwash around materials and end of life solutions.
Giving back & supporting meaningful causes
KeepCup giving program sits with a framework of doing business better – being responsible for the upstream and downstream consequences of corporate activity, paying tax and actively shaping a better future for people and nature.
The brand has had lots of great partnerships over the years, and have donated over $2,000,000 to causes and campaigns that advocate against single-use, for a biodiverse planet.
Globally, KeepCup has done a great job towards sustainability:
Thanks to the alternative of KeepCup, where you can design your eco coffee cup, over 3,350,000 cups have been sold in over 32 countries around the world.
One KeepCup uses the same amount of plastic of 28 disposable cups. With the use of KeepCup users so far, BILLIONS of disposable cups have been saved from landfills.
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