Outside that really counts
post them with knowing captions The more mystifying the cup design the better.
Pure Baker Street’s cups star bears grinding the beans with their bottoms and singing. They have elicited comments along the lines of “Do bears s**t in the woods? No they s**t in your coffee” — and, crucially, thousands of “likes”. Pure says: “Our cups were designed to single out fans of freshly ground coffee. If you see bears happily grinding, you’re an aficionado. If you see anything else, better stick with instant.”
Vagabond in North London goes for a more discreet stamp of a horse. If you are prone to a personal statement on a takeaway cup, your home crockery is similarly carefully curated — think local pottery made to be placed near the books of the moment and captured on social media.
No lid
You want to save the environment — lids are difficult to recycle and end up polluting our seas. You also want everyone to know about your eco credentials, and not using a lid is an easy way to do this. You intended to use a keep-cup because paper cups are the new plastic bags in terms of waste but you forgot to wash it up and you hope that
The taste maker’s cup
You want your cup to do the talking so you invest in the right accessories. For London Fashion Week, the designer Ashish made a limitededition coffee cup. Ashish is known as “the sequin king” and this spangled cup is quickly identifiable as his work. Having one marks you out as a taste maker ( just make sure it matches your shoes and handbag).
The truly committed carry around cup-warmers that they can slip onto any cup to instantly convey their personal brand. Often these are corporate — dating site Bumble makes rubber warmers that read “no talking before coffee”— or used for a week and then left in a drawer because they were a present from a well-meaning relative who doesn’t know that no one has time to commit to a cup-warmer.
@susannahbutter