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Coffee Cups 101: Cup Materials

There are a lot of things to consider when you choose how you will drink or serve your coffee. One of the BIGGEST things to think about is what you will actually be putting the coffee in!

The answer, of course, is CUPS!

One of the things that I love the most about drinking a cup of coffee is feeling the warm mug in my hand. A good mug is almost a nice as a good cup of coffee. This is especially true on cold winter days, which we are having plenty of here in Chicago.

 In the next few weeks I would like to explore the various kinds of cups and mugs you might see at a coffee shop, and explain why you might want to use them.

Today we will be looking at the materials your cup is made out of!
Coffee cups can be made out of many things.

They can be:
Plastic,
paper,
metal,
glass,
ceramic,
or even a combination of things.

What follows is a look at these common materials and why you may (or may not) want to serve coffee in them.


PLASTIC:
Plastic cups, although not common in cafes, are the bread and butter of the travel mug industry. Almost every cup you are given as a cheap attempt at a brad recognition campaign will be plastic. Many of the cups you can buy at your local target will also be plastic. It's easy to find yourself using a plastic to go cup without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, this may not be a good thing. Plastic has not had a very good track record as a beverage container. There is a lot of cheap plastic out there that you will need to avoid. Make sure your cup does not contain Bisphenol A (BPA). This is a substance found in a lot of plastics that is now widely believed to be a toxic substance. You will also want to look out for cheaper plastics that will melt at higher heats. If your cup is not dishwasher safe there is a good change it will make your coffee taste a little funny. Plastics also don't retain heat well so your coffee will often cool quickly. On top of all of that, you have to admit that drinking out of plastic just doesn't feel very nice.
NLDR: Avoid plastics if possible, they're kind of gross


PAPER:

Paper cups are involved in a love/hate relationship with all cafe owners. Without them it would be difficult to make a profit, but they are just TERRIBLE. Paper cups are available at almost all cafes, but that doesn't mean you should use them. Not only do they add a nasty paper taste to your coffee, they are also simply just filling up landfills. They don't keep heat in efficiently. They cost the cafe extra money for something you are just going to throw away.I DON'T LIKE PAPER CUPS!

If you HAVE to use them be aware of a few things you should know

• Don't use cups that have a wax coating. The wax will melt into your coffee. You don't want to drink wax do you?
• Cups are NOT often recycled. Putting them in the recycling just means there will be one more step until they get to the landfill.
• You can get cups made out of recycled paper
• PLEASE, do not throw away a cup that is STILL FILLED WITH LIQUID. Real people have to clean up your mess, and it's not fun.
• Although there are some cups that are "biodegradable", very few places will actually compost the cups. If you want to be green, you will have to compost the cups yourself.
• One last thing, if you are thinking about using STYROFOAM cups instead. JUST SAY NO! They make you look cheap, they taste awful, and are simply terrible for the enviroment

METAL

A metal coffee cup isn't as common as a plastic or a paper cup, but you still see a lot of them. I see metal cups mostly as travel mugs. Although metal mugs have existed for about 4,000 years they have rarely been used for hot beverages. The heat conductivity makes it difficult to hold if the contents are hot. This is why most metal travel mugs also include more insulated materials. 

There are a few things you should know about metal mugs:

• Metal is light weight and durable which makes it great for camping gear, but just because you have a camping mug doesn't mean your coffee will taste good
• Many metal cups can leave a taste in your coffee. Look for cups made out of stainless steel, aluminum has a flavor that doesn't go well with coffee.
• Metal cups heat up quickly, but also lose heat quickly. Don't use a metal cup if you want your coffee to stay hot

CERAMIC

Ceramic cups have been around longer then anything else. They were invented in East Asia over 12,000 years ago! There is a good reason ceramic has stuck around so long. It's great! I love ceramic cups. They holy heat well, they feel nice when you hold them, they don't add funny flavors to your coffee (as long as they have a glaze applied). I drink out of a ceramic cup 90% of the time. However there are a few thing that you should know about ceramic cups:

• Once a ceramic cup is cracked it will build up bacteria in the cracks. you will have to throw it away (otherwise it's a health code violation)
• If you own a cafe make sure you look into heath code regulations. You may not be allowed to fill cups that customers bring in (since you don't know if they are clean). An alternative to this is to have a "mug club" of some sort where people can keep their mugs at the shop and get them cleaned when they are done.
• Ceramic breaks very easily... providing these kinds of cups will save you money on paper cups, but may wind up costing you more if people drop the ceramic a lot.

GLASS

Glass has many of the advantages, and the disadvantages of ceramic They both don't effect the taste of coffee negatively, they both can feel nice to hold, and they both break very easily. In fact glass is technically a noncrystalline ceramic. Very few people use glass cups for coffee, but it has become an option in many shops in the last ten years. A drink called the "Gibralter" has taken it's place many specialty coffee shops. This is a drink that uses a cup like the one seen in the picture. I personally love drinking out of little glass cups like this.

There are some things you should know about glass:

• It doesn't hold in heat as well as most ceramic cups
• It gives you a nice look into what's going on below the surface of your coffee (which i think it pretty cool)
• It isn't as traditional, or as aesthetically pleasing as ceramic, so make sure you offer ceramic too

Christmas Traditions: Kenya

Pilau

This week we continue our series exploring the Christmas traditions of some of the countries that we have imported coffee from this year.


Today I'd like to focus on Kenya. Christmas celebrations begin early in Kenya. People begin to visit their families a month before Christmas and there is a lot of travel out of the urban centers out in to rural communities. Most people are taking time off work at least once, or sometimes taking more then one vacation this month.

All this travel means that the busses are getting pretty packed since most people travel on busses!

Kenyans love to eat at Christmas. Chickens, sheep, goats and cows are slaughtered by the hundreds to prepare for the celebration. In you live by the coast you will have your fill of Pilau, which is a staple food in that region.

Whatever you're eating make sure you wash your hands! Kenyans eat with their fingers, rather then forks and knives!

As Christmas approaches people will begin to attend prayer services. It is common for people to even attend all night prayer vigils to bring in Christmas.

If you want to celebrate christmas like a Kenyan just remember these three things:

1. FAMILY
2. FOOD
3. FAITH

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions: Guatemala

This year we will be exploring how people celebrate Christmas in a few of the countries where we get our coffee from. Part of getting to know your coffee is getting to know the people that you get it from.  Christmas is a big deal in most of the countries we import coffee from, and so we want to take a moment to honor those traditions.

Today I'd like to focus on Guatemala. Not only does Guatemala produce some of the best and brightest coffee on the planet, it also celebrates christmas a bit different then we do here in the United States.

Nine days before Christmas there is something called a "posada procession" that begins. In this ritual statues of Mary and Joseph are carried around seeking shelter. They are let into a new house every night for nine days. As they are carried drums are played and fireworks are lit as there is a celebration around the statues. When they arrive at the destination there is a carol that is sung and a set of ritual questions are asked. Eventually Mary and Joseph are let into the house. They are placed in the "nacimiento"(a Latin American nativity scene) where they will remain until the next night when the procession will continue to the next house.

The procession is quite the party. There is punch and tamales for everyone. People have a dance party together when Mary and Joseph are finally let in.

On Christmas eve, not only are Mary and Joseph let it, but Jesus is added to the nacimiento. When this happens the biggest part of all happens.

There is a large German population in Guatemalla so Christmas trees have made their was into the nacimiento. At the final house presents are left under the tree on Christmas morning for the children as gifts from the Christ Child. Gifts for adults are not opened until new years day.

On Christmas Eve there is a Midnight Mass that follows the posada and after the mass there is a full supper!

6 Ways to Guide Your Shop's Culture

If you want your coffee shop to survive for more then two years you NEED to have an inclusive culture. Having a inclusive culture can bring in new people, and help you to expand your markets. Having a restrictive culture will eventually burn out and close in on itself. This does not happen naturally; it takes time, money, and energy. The first step is what we talked about last week. Last week we talked about how to evaluate WHAT your coffee culture is saying to outsides. If you missed it check it out!  Knowing your culture is important, but you can't stop there. Learning how to form culture is where the real power for transformation comes from.

Six Ways to Guide Your Culture

This week I would like to give you 6 things you can create that will help you guide the culture toward where you want it.

1. Structures 
Make sure the structures you have in your shop are open to new people. Structures are the practices that inform the culture you develop. If you only hire hipsters you will only have hipster clientele. If you only have white people in management positions, you will have trouble making minorities feel at home. If you play music that's inappropriate for children, you will not have young families buying your coffee. If you notice a wall that is keeping people out consider taking actions to tear them down.

2. Systems and procedures 
Systems are "how we do things around here." It's important to set up systems that set you apart from the rabble, but still invite newcomers in. You should have procedures that respect both the coffee and the clientele. Use fresh roasted coffee, weigh our your coffee, measure your temperatures, keep things fresh, buy locally, use ethical coffee, and invite your customers into what you are doing. Present your systems in a way that is easy to understand, and which is available for them to explore and share with others.

3. Rites and rituals 
One powerful thing you can do for your customers is create rites and rituals, and honor the ones that occur naturally. This can happen lots of ways. Create a regular schedule so people will be able to better create a relationship with their barista. Offer classes and cupping that being people into your coffee making procedures. Create yearly, monthly, and even daily traditions that people can count on. Have fun with this one. I have created ceremonies that I perform from time to time that honor coffee and those gathered around the cup with me (these can be great ways to share the values and commitment of your shop).

4. Physical space 
Treat your space like you would a cup of coffee. Use all your senses and look for the subtle details. Look out for things that make you look unprofessional, sloppy, unwelcoming, too sterilized, too grimy, or just incompetent. Make sure the space smells good. Make sure your shop has a comfortable climate. Hire a designer to help you out. Get consistent branding. Show people that you care about them by caring about your shop!

5. Stories from the history of the shop, the space, the neighborhood and the coffee world 
Gather stories! Talk about the barista who showed up 2 hours early to get the shop open on time during the blizzard of 2009, talk about when your loyal customer used your shop for a school project, talk about every story you can collect that can give people an idea of what you want your coffee shop to be about. Try to tell a story to a new customer every day.

6. Formal statements
Do you have formal statements that guide where your shop is going? You should! Every coffee shop should have a mission statement, a list of values that you try to honor in everything that you do, a vision for where your shop is going, a general strategy that states where you are going, and a list of concrete very specific goals. Bring a group of people in your culture together and start forming these documents. Make them EASY TO MEMORIZE and ARTICULATE THEM in everything that you are doing. The mission and vision will start to catch over time, and people will have a more concert idea of what you are doing to accomplish your goals.

Discovering Your Coffee Culture?

cul·ture/ˈkəlCHər/ Noun: The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. 

Coffee nerds know how to taste coffee. We know how to grind the coffee just right, use the perfect amount of water, smell, and slurp the coffee. We know how to pinpoint fine nuances in beans, and detect which flavors point to country of origin, roast degree, and processing method. HOWEVER, often coffee nerds are not very good in detecting what the culture of their coffee shop communicates.

Far too often coffee shops that have the best tools to bring people GREAT coffee have a culture that EXCLUDES those they could be teaching. This is almost never the intention of a coffee shop. After all who wouldn't want more customers? The problem lies in the reality that too often people don't recognize the culture of their coffee shop.

Asking a culture to describe their culture is like asking a fish to describe their bowl. They will point out everything in the bowl EXCEPT the water.

Culture surrounds all we do, and is one of the FIRST thing that someone notices when they walk through the door of your shop, however it's invisible to the people most empowered to change it.This doesn't have to be the case. Although we can never enter our coffee shop as an outsider, what follows are six questions you can ask about how your coffee shop runs that will help you figure out what your culture is screaming to everyone but you.

1.  Do you encourage your staff, and yourself to pay attention? 
   You should have a system in place that encourages people to always look at the culture and setting in your coffee shop critically. Make sure your staff know how to look critically and report honestly, and make sure you pay attention at all times. Talk to people around you, and look for who is sticking around and who isn't coming back. Pay attention to why.
2. What is the reaction to critical incidents?
   When there are problems, or even positive incidents that come up evaluate how are they handled. Make sure you take time for critical thinking about what in your culture may have contributed to the incidents. Put yourself in the shoes of all people involved. Put yourself in the shoes of as many customers as you can. Take note of what they might see in the situation.
3. How do you allocate resources?
   Your wallet speaks volumes about what is valued in your culture. If you spend money on things geared for the coffee elite, but don't invest in things to help the average person understand people will notice. If you don't spend any money on things to make your coffee better people will notice. If you don't spend money on making the space inviting people will notice. Go over everything that you spend, and ask why you bought it. Then think about as many customers as you can and ask what they would think about the purchase.
4. Who is put up as a role model in the culture?
   Create a list of your dream team of people you would love to work with. Figure out what about these people is attractive to you. Are these traits that form a culture that is welcoming to outsiders? Figuring out what you view as impressive will point out what might make people feel they are treated as unimpressive. Evaluate if these are good cultural values.
5. How and why are people rewarded? Do you have any systems of rewards set up for customers? Do you have any systems of reward set up for employees. This is more then just punch card programs. Think about what sorts of things give your patrons and staff social capitol in the shop. What gives people a voice? What gives people power? Are the things that reward people focused on welcoming people in, or do they exclude people?
   
6. Why were people hired?The people you choose to hire are one of the strongest ways culture is formed. What were you looking for in your hires? When you look at applications what things stand out to you? Do these values put the customer first? If they don't your shop might look like the video I have posted at the bottom!

Hopefully these question will have helped you recognize the culture of your coffee shop. Next week we will talk about how to create the culture you want.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Coffee Snobs from Frankie Shaw