Description

How do I use my KeepCup?

• The plug lifts and swivels to open the breather vent and drinking hole. It lifts and swivels again to close.
• The silicone band can be used to personalise your coffee preferences by etching and wiping inside the coffee text. The band insulates your hand from your hot beverage.
• Hand over your KeepCup at your local cafe. Keep the lid.
• The barista makes you a great coffee and hands it back to you in your KeepCup.
• Put the lid on and you are on your way – light of step and glad of heart.
• Drink. Wash. Drink. Wash. Drink. Wash. Drink. Wash. Enjoy!

Can I fill my KeepCup with boiling water?

The KeepCup has undergone rigorous testing and has proven sufficient to carry boiling water, providing it is held by the silicone band and the plug remains in the open position to release steam. However, the KeepCup was designed specifically for espresso coffee, which is served at 65 degrees and not at boiling point. Moreover, if you heat the milk for a coffee to a point much higher than 65 degrees, it will burn and your coffee will taste terrible!

How should I wash my KeepCup?

• As with most things, the more care you take washing your cups, the longer they will last. KeepCup recommends placing the KeepCup Original and the KeepCup Brew with Silicone band securely on the top rack of the dishwasher. The KeepCup Brew Limited Edition Cork is a more delicate item and should only be handwashed using a soft cloth and water. The cork band should never be removed from the cup. Do not use abrasive cleaning cloths on any KeepCup.
• Care should be taken: scratching or denting the cup or lid can compromise the seal. Even minor abrasion to the rim of the cup or lid seal area will compromise the seal.
• Nothing restores the KeepCup like gently rubbing the KeepCup with a paste of bicarbonate soda with lemon and rinsing thoroughly.
• In between use ensure the KeepCup is kept dry and stored with the lid off to avoid any unwanted smells developing.

Why is KeepCup better than a mug?

• It’s not better. KeepCups have just been purpose built for coffee on the go.
• The KeepCup has a lid so it is difficult to spill or splash the contents. Having a lid means the KeepCup meets OH&S safety standards of many organizations.
• The KeepCup is light and unbreakable. At the end of its life it can be recycled.
• The KeepCup replicates disposable cup sizes so you get correct and consistent portioning of coffee and milk in the size you desire. Small and medium cups fit directly under the coffee machine.
• And just between friends if I’m having a cup of tea at home I love my ceramic mug. Out and about there is no better choice than the KeepCup!

Can I put my KeepCup in the microwave?

Yes, on the base of your KeepCup it says it’s microwave safe to 120 degrees. However, make sure you remove the lid first as the lid WILL MELT if placed in the microwave. Once you’ve reheated the contents of your KeepCup, place the spill proof lid on top to prevent any accidents.

Are KeepCups BPA free? What kind of plastic is in it?

The KeepCup and all its components are BPA free! The Original cup itself and the lid are made from polypropylene, the plug is a polyethylene polymer called TPU (we are attempting to source this in biodegradable form), and the thermal band is made from silicone. We researched our plastics with care. Polypropylene #5 is the safe food grade plastic. Bisphenol A (BPA) is contained in polycarbonate (plastic #7). The other plastic to avoid as reusable is #2 PET. These numbers relate to the chemical compounds used to manufacture the plastic and must be displayed.

Can I order spare parts?

Spare parts are available. Contact us with your spare parts requirements and we will get them in for you. All small, medium and large components are compatible and interchangeable, as are the XS and SiX components.

Does my KeepCup come under warranty?

Your KeepCup comes with a one year warranty on all of its components, subject to fair wear and tear. We will happily replace any component if it is defective. KeepCup warrants the Products purchased shall be and remain free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 12 months from the date of delivery. The warranty does not extend to any fair wear and tear. KeepCup will replace any defective item or part of Product at its sole cost, including delivery, upon receipt of satisfactory evidence of the defective item or part. For any claim to be recognised customers must notify us immediately and provide an order number or receipt number as proof of purchase and we will provide you with an exchange, refund or repair within the following guidelines: KeepCup will replace without charge any damaged or faulty components within 12 months of purchase.

Mission

Our mission is to encourage the use of reusable cups.  We do this with great products, but also by delivering a positive global campaign that strives to make a difference to how people think about convenience culture. We want to create a global brand and to be one of the brands that kick started the demise of the disposable.

Objective

Through the widespread sales of KeepCup through our four channels, cafes can lift reuse rates to 30% reusables in the “takeaway” environment. Implicit in this objective is the knowledge that brand in hand is the most effective way to drive reuse behaviour.

Our Story

My brother and I started a café business called Bluebag in Melbourne in 1998. As the business grew we became increasingly concerned about the volume of packaging waste our business and our customers consumed.

We looked to purchase and sell reusable cups as an alternative to disposable, but observed that not only were existing options unsuitable for specialty coffee, they hadn’t won the hearts of consumers.

Ceramic mugs were heavy, breakable, needing to be heated prior to filling and impossible to dose correctly with milk and coffee. Thermoses were bulky, unattractive and invariably the coffee shot had to be poured into the thermos destroying the crema on the shot. Further to this, both options were made of composite materials, making them dishwasher unfriendly and difficult to recycle at the end of life.

We had the notion to make our own, but were daunted by the enormous costs of set up and manufacture. My moment of clarity was when I was heating the milk in my daughter’s sippy cup one morning. Imagine if I gave her milk in a disposable cup and then discarded it? That idea seemed so wasteful, yet I did it with coffee twice a day! This moment was the call to action.

We took a huge gamble that usability and aesthetics were the key reasons for poor take up of reusables as an alternative to disposable cups. Our café experience was invaluable in providing input to make the KeepCup work behind the coffee machine as well as for the user.

Almost four years later, with a great deal of help from design professionals, we have kick started a behavioral change in Melbourne that is spreading across the world. People purchase KeepCups because they love the way they look and feel, and continue doing so because they form a positive habit. For many of our customers it has been the beginning of a journey to reduce the consequences of convenience behavior. Feel good. Do good.

KeepCup is from Australia with love. The environmental footprint of our products is really important to us, so we were committed to local manufacture. Sustainability is linked to usability, and we believe; quality and underpins the ethos of the business. As the business expanded globally we were hesitant to proclaim our Australian manufacture but it turns out this is a really positive message, and made in Melbourne even more so, given our city’s reputation for specialty coffee.

In 2012 we opened a warehouse in the UK and in March 2013 we opened in Los Angeles. Local presence means that we can begin to tell a local story in these markets, local assembly and local printing of packaging and point of sale materials, reducing the environmental footprint of the KeepCups.

KeepCup is also less plastic. Disposable cups are lined with polyethylene and have a polystyrene lid, so there is enough plastic in 28 disposable cups to make one small KeepCup. In 2009, Simon Lockrey from the Centre for Design at RMIT completed a Symapro Life Cycle Analysis which has independently verified our sustainability claims. Research conducted by Canadian chemist, Dr Martin Hocking who found the break-even energy requirement to manufacture a reusable plastic cup versus a paper cup over a lifetime use was under 15 uses.

Since June 2009 we have sold over three million KeepCups, users have diverted billions of disposable cups from landfill.

KeepCups are now sold in 32 countries around the world.

We think of ourselves as a campaign supported by a product, where the best reusable is the one you use.

Ours just happens to be pretty awesome.

Many small acts will make a phenomenal difference.

Abigail Forsyth

CEO, KeepCup