This is a very common question; the answer primarily depends on the heat of beverage you intend to serve. We stock a wide range of cups from single-wall plain cups, to our newest triple wall "Ultimate" Paper Cups. The key difference is the insulating properties of the specific cup type.
Single wall cups are perfect for warm drinks; however piping hot coffee would be rather uncomfortable to hold without the use of a cup sleeve (available seperately). Due to their single-wall construction there is no additional layer to insulate the heat of the drink.
Double wall and Ripple cups are specifically designed for far greater heat retention, the dual layers work in a similar way to a thermos flask; trapping air and isolating the customers hand from hot beverages. In addition to this, the extra rigidity is ideally suited to "coffee on the go".
With different coffee shop and drinks providers favouring different disposable cup materials, it is interesting to find out which is the most effective insulator. Perhaps the best way to discuss the insulation properties of a paper cup is to compare it with another commonly used non-china cup material such as polystyrene. This can be done by performing a simple test to show whether the polystyrene or paper cup kept the tea it contained hotter for longer.
Differences between Paper cups and Polystyrene containers
The heat retention test involves pouring 200 ml of boiling water into a polystyrene cup and the same amount into a hot drink paper cup to find out which is the better insulator. For a wider comparison you could also use a plastic container as part of the test to see how its insulation properties compare. We all know each of these vessels will provide a certain level of insulation, but this test can help show which is the best method of keeping liquids heated.
How to measure the temperature
You can use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the liquid. Taking a heat reading every minute for ten minutes, then again at 20 minutes and 30 minutes, will help to show whether the paper cup is the best insulator. You can record these findings as a graph if you wish to make the results clearer.
Heat analysis
In a similar test, cup and food container specialist Contexpan found that the liquid in both cups dropped in temperature quite quickly during the first five minutes, from around 100 degrees centigrade to around 90 degrees. However, at this point, the liquid in the polystyrene cup cooled at a significantly slower rate than the paper cup, remaining at around 80 degrees after 25 minutes compared with the liquid in the paper cup, which had dropped to around 70 degrees.
The findings
The results state that the polystyrene cup is the better insulator, with the paper cup in second place. A third cup, a plastic cup, was used in the Contexpan test and this presenting inferior insulation properties, with the water temperature falling to below 70 degrees centigrade after 25 minutes. However, companies such as Event Supplies are now manufacturing ripple disposable hot drink paper cups with an air pocket in between to trap the heat and provide an extra barrier of insulation. Although conclusive findings have not been compiled, early indications suggest that these new double walled cups will be even better insulators than their Polystyrene counterparts.
Event supplies stock a huge range of quality catering disposable items used throughout professional catering businesses, whether you are organising a large event or small party, event supplies service, prices and product range ensure your catering disposable needs are exceeded.
Event Supplies
http://www.eventsupplies.co.uk
0844 4995456
Showing posts with label paper coffee cups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paper coffee cups. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Paper Coffee Cups
There are a lot new Ripple cups emerging into the market at present, and some very competitively priced ones to boot.
The cost of making these products does not vary much from producer to producer, the cost of the right type of materials doesn't change either, factoring in economies of scale (purchasing power) will not change things a lot either, so how can there be massive differences in the cost price of Ripple Cups from one seller to another? Well, there is only really one way to reduce cost - use less expensive materials.
Unfortunately, the material some suppliers are compromising in order to reduce the cost of this product is the quality of the paper used.
Despite the the recycling efforts of late and green initiatives generally our beleaguered government sometimes get things right, in particular rules regarding goods which come into contact with foodstuffs. It is against the law for any product which comes into direct contact with foodstuffs to be made using recycled material for the simple reason that untreated paper (that may have once been lavatory roll for example) has the potential to make people ill if filled with hot liquid (such as coffee as toxins can migrate into the food. There is no way of checking what the recycled paper board was once used for - it could have contained anything and make people very ill.
All our Ripple Cups are made with food grade board and are sent for testing with PIRA (Printing Industry Research Association) who test the cups to make sure all the paper board used in their creation is food grade and the product is fit for purpose. Any trace of recycled material and the coffee cups would fail the test and will not be fit for purpose.
You might ask how firms can 'get away' with using or selling these cups without lawsuits etc? I suspect few of you reading this were aware that this could happen? Most people simply assume that organisations will check the quality of the Double Wall Cups used or sold by them. If you became ill after a cup of coffee would you look suspiciously at the paper cup, or wonder if the milk was off? I bet you would suspect the Paper Coffee Cup least of all.
Generally the only firms requesting food contact certificates to be delivered before delivery of Triple Wall Cups are the likes of KFC and the other large restaurants and coffee shops but any firm selling or using disposable cups should be asking for these certificates too. The first organisation to get sued will be the one without the correct documents.
To help you check if you may have unsuitable cups there is a check you can carry out yourself. Triple wall are also often described as 'triple layer cups' and there is one simple way to check if your ripple cups are produced using the correct board quality, and that is to tear the outer layer of the paper cup to reveal the hidden third layer of board.
Coffee Cups using unsuitable recycled board will be brown or grey, the proper legal board will normally be white.
The cost of making these products does not vary much from producer to producer, the cost of the right type of materials doesn't change either, factoring in economies of scale (purchasing power) will not change things a lot either, so how can there be massive differences in the cost price of Ripple Cups from one seller to another? Well, there is only really one way to reduce cost - use less expensive materials.
Unfortunately, the material some suppliers are compromising in order to reduce the cost of this product is the quality of the paper used.
Despite the the recycling efforts of late and green initiatives generally our beleaguered government sometimes get things right, in particular rules regarding goods which come into contact with foodstuffs. It is against the law for any product which comes into direct contact with foodstuffs to be made using recycled material for the simple reason that untreated paper (that may have once been lavatory roll for example) has the potential to make people ill if filled with hot liquid (such as coffee as toxins can migrate into the food. There is no way of checking what the recycled paper board was once used for - it could have contained anything and make people very ill.
All our Ripple Cups are made with food grade board and are sent for testing with PIRA (Printing Industry Research Association) who test the cups to make sure all the paper board used in their creation is food grade and the product is fit for purpose. Any trace of recycled material and the coffee cups would fail the test and will not be fit for purpose.
You might ask how firms can 'get away' with using or selling these cups without lawsuits etc? I suspect few of you reading this were aware that this could happen? Most people simply assume that organisations will check the quality of the Double Wall Cups used or sold by them. If you became ill after a cup of coffee would you look suspiciously at the paper cup, or wonder if the milk was off? I bet you would suspect the Paper Coffee Cup least of all.
Generally the only firms requesting food contact certificates to be delivered before delivery of Triple Wall Cups are the likes of KFC and the other large restaurants and coffee shops but any firm selling or using disposable cups should be asking for these certificates too. The first organisation to get sued will be the one without the correct documents.
To help you check if you may have unsuitable cups there is a check you can carry out yourself. Triple wall are also often described as 'triple layer cups' and there is one simple way to check if your ripple cups are produced using the correct board quality, and that is to tear the outer layer of the paper cup to reveal the hidden third layer of board.
Coffee Cups using unsuitable recycled board will be brown or grey, the proper legal board will normally be white.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Seen to be greener?
Lots of companies all over the globe are now offering for sale environmentally sound products, in our industry the most commonplace are the PLA (poly-lactic acid) coated Paper Coffee Cups the likes of Starbucks and the other major coffee houses are using in their desire to be seen to be as environmentally acceptable and sympathetic as possible.
Many are now offering reusable ceramic mugs to drink in store, or that you can purchase and then return to receive a rebate.
Hundreds of websites have sprung up now offering biodegradable disposable tableware and "to-go" products.
What people do not realise is that some of these products are completely redundant unless the companies and customers using these products change their habits too.
Having just finished reading a press release about a certain restaurant switching its type of paper coffee cups from the standard oil based lined item to the new in vogue PLA coated "biodegradable" types and advising us how they are single handedly rescuing the environment I feel it is necessary to point out a couple of things.
Firstly these PLA coated biodegradable cups will not biodegrade in a landfill so it of little use paying the extra cash for these paper coffee cups if they are simply thrown in the bin bags with the rest of the rubbish and disposed with other unsorted Catering Supplies.
Another point to note is that recycling and composting is mainly a service carried out by local councils; and many authorities treat waste differently from one area to another. Some will collect your waste products for resale (sold typically in the Far East) some will combust it for power, whereas some actually just send it straight to the landfill irrespective of how you have sorted it at home or the coffee shop.
One of the main problems with the short sighted efforts of these (usually large) companies trying their upmost to be seen as the leader in fighting climate change is that they do not consider where their rubbish ends up, how these new products are manufactured or how they should be handled in order to make the most of their biodegradable properties.
Biodegradable paper cups can create more waste if not properly sorted at waste recycling locations, these new PLA coated paper cups do not differ visually from standard oil lined paper coffee cups and as a result this can actually create more waste.
99% of all Paper Cups used/sold at present have an oil based lining and are regularly collected for recycling, if however one of these PLA lined paper coffee cups came into contact with these cups, the natural lining would react with the oil based lining and destroy the whole batch. There have already been stories of PLA containers finding their way into polypropylene recycling containers and contaminating their contents.
There have also been reports of deforestation in parts of the far east to create more space to grow the crops used for production of PLA and in the west we have been giving farm subsidies to farmers in Africa to grow many of the crops we are now using for PLA and bio-fuels - putting these people back into poverty!
Removing farmland once used to grow food in order to grow crops for bio-fuels and alternatives to plastics also increases food costs to customers, something most people will have noticed in the last year...
Many are now offering reusable ceramic mugs to drink in store, or that you can purchase and then return to receive a rebate.
Hundreds of websites have sprung up now offering biodegradable disposable tableware and "to-go" products.
What people do not realise is that some of these products are completely redundant unless the companies and customers using these products change their habits too.
Having just finished reading a press release about a certain restaurant switching its type of paper coffee cups from the standard oil based lined item to the new in vogue PLA coated "biodegradable" types and advising us how they are single handedly rescuing the environment I feel it is necessary to point out a couple of things.
Firstly these PLA coated biodegradable cups will not biodegrade in a landfill so it of little use paying the extra cash for these paper coffee cups if they are simply thrown in the bin bags with the rest of the rubbish and disposed with other unsorted Catering Supplies.
Another point to note is that recycling and composting is mainly a service carried out by local councils; and many authorities treat waste differently from one area to another. Some will collect your waste products for resale (sold typically in the Far East) some will combust it for power, whereas some actually just send it straight to the landfill irrespective of how you have sorted it at home or the coffee shop.
One of the main problems with the short sighted efforts of these (usually large) companies trying their upmost to be seen as the leader in fighting climate change is that they do not consider where their rubbish ends up, how these new products are manufactured or how they should be handled in order to make the most of their biodegradable properties.
Biodegradable paper cups can create more waste if not properly sorted at waste recycling locations, these new PLA coated paper cups do not differ visually from standard oil lined paper coffee cups and as a result this can actually create more waste.
99% of all Paper Cups used/sold at present have an oil based lining and are regularly collected for recycling, if however one of these PLA lined paper coffee cups came into contact with these cups, the natural lining would react with the oil based lining and destroy the whole batch. There have already been stories of PLA containers finding their way into polypropylene recycling containers and contaminating their contents.
There have also been reports of deforestation in parts of the far east to create more space to grow the crops used for production of PLA and in the west we have been giving farm subsidies to farmers in Africa to grow many of the crops we are now using for PLA and bio-fuels - putting these people back into poverty!
Removing farmland once used to grow food in order to grow crops for bio-fuels and alternatives to plastics also increases food costs to customers, something most people will have noticed in the last year...
Friday, 24 July 2009
Ceramic Cups vs Paper Cups
Many coffee chains all over the world are now offering price breaks if customers bring ceramic coffee cups instead of using the stores own paper cups.
Most are lauded for their commitment to "going green" but is there any proof that these changes will have the desired effect and minimise our negative effect on the earth?
Research from the early 1990s suggests that each time you clean a mug in the dishwasher, it takes about as much energy - and would probably produce as many emissions - as it takes simply to produce a new paper cup!
Gains in dishwasher efficiency since then may have changed the math a little, but if you wash your ceramic cup after every use, you could easily be talking hundreds of cups of coffee before your mug makes more sense than a daily dose of paper. Cleaning the mug by hand may not absolve you, either - although you can help your case by using cold water and be sparse with the fairy - detergents are pretty energy-intensive to make.
The argument is worse when you compare Ceramic Mugs with Plastic Glasses
Reverting to china would be an ethical no brainer were it not for a seminal piece of academic analysis in the early Nineties by Dr Martin Hocking, Reusable and Disposable Cups: an Energy-Based Evaluation. He concluded you'd need to use your ceramic Cup 1,006 times for it to break even (in energy terms) with its polystyrene competitor. This is largely because kilns are extraordinarily energy intensive, because using a dishwasher to wash the cup also uses energy, and because cups get broken. Plastic cups also had a reasonably good recycling infrastructure in place: the UK's Save a Cup programme saveacup.co.uk still collects millions of plastic glasses from vending machines.
It seems whether an individual or massive coffee house you cannot win sometimes, whatever we do we seem to leave rubbish, create more waste, or anger some groups with our actions. Who actually considers all of the above when all you actually want is a Mocha Frappuccino, and quick?
Most are lauded for their commitment to "going green" but is there any proof that these changes will have the desired effect and minimise our negative effect on the earth?
Research from the early 1990s suggests that each time you clean a mug in the dishwasher, it takes about as much energy - and would probably produce as many emissions - as it takes simply to produce a new paper cup!
Gains in dishwasher efficiency since then may have changed the math a little, but if you wash your ceramic cup after every use, you could easily be talking hundreds of cups of coffee before your mug makes more sense than a daily dose of paper. Cleaning the mug by hand may not absolve you, either - although you can help your case by using cold water and be sparse with the fairy - detergents are pretty energy-intensive to make.
The argument is worse when you compare Ceramic Mugs with Plastic Glasses
Reverting to china would be an ethical no brainer were it not for a seminal piece of academic analysis in the early Nineties by Dr Martin Hocking, Reusable and Disposable Cups: an Energy-Based Evaluation. He concluded you'd need to use your ceramic Cup 1,006 times for it to break even (in energy terms) with its polystyrene competitor. This is largely because kilns are extraordinarily energy intensive, because using a dishwasher to wash the cup also uses energy, and because cups get broken. Plastic cups also had a reasonably good recycling infrastructure in place: the UK's Save a Cup programme saveacup.co.uk still collects millions of plastic glasses from vending machines.
It seems whether an individual or massive coffee house you cannot win sometimes, whatever we do we seem to leave rubbish, create more waste, or anger some groups with our actions. Who actually considers all of the above when all you actually want is a Mocha Frappuccino, and quick?
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