introducing: monkey cups

As you’ll have no doubt heard with all the coverage of the hilariously named ‘Latte Levy’ we discard 200 million disposable cups every year in Ireland. We’ve been taken in by the convenience of disposable cups, but in terms of design they have never been up to much. We’ve all suffered from leaky lids, and the feeling of soggy paper next to your lips does nothing for the flavour of your small batch hand roasted single origin beverage. While a lot of these cups are theoretically compostable in reality very few ever are as it can only be done on an industrial scale. 

That’s why we’re absolutely delighted to have these new Monkey Cups produced in Waterford in stock. For Mailo Power, who makes them, the point is very much about changing behaviours in a joyful way. They’re named after the 100th monkey principle - the idea that once a certain number of a group start using a new habit, it will be taken up instinctively by all. The design is pretty excellent & they are lovely to drink from. They’re made from thermal shockproof borosilicate glass, have a clever slider that means they won’t leak in your bag, and are short enough to fit under a standard coffee machine. Lots of people swear by a china cup for drinking tea but glass is equally good at protecting the flavours in both tea and coffee. 

While I’m never a fan of the stick approach, the plastic bag levy brought in in 2002 genuinely changed people's behaviour, so much so that the majority of our customers don’t take a paper bag from us in the shop at all these days. The attention it drew to the issue worked. We’ve all grown accustomed to bringing a tote bag with us everywhere, or at the very least packing a few different things into the one bag. It has also had 2 unexpected bonuses, it freed up the under sink space in the kitchen that any child of the 90’s will remember being rammed full of used plastic bags and it’s also given us a new place to express our identity in our choice of tote bag.

Similarly the choice of reusable coffee cups gives us a chance to display both our taste and values. While it might well take 125 uses to make your money back on the 20c levy, it only takes 15 uses of a reusable cup to be better for the environment and you can look cool while doing it. 

With three colour ways to chose from, take a look at our monkey cup selection.