A company called Vaporpath, which is unsurprisingly based in Seattle, thinks it has the solution for all of our coffee-drinking woes. It has developed the Viora Lid, a new kind of plastic lid designed to fit on the top of traditional takeaway coffee cups.
One of the most disappointing parts of buying any takeaway coffee is the cheap lid on the cup. The dark liquid inside has just cost you at least a few dollars, but the coffee shop has unfailingly scrimped on the quality of the drinking vessel.
Several things mark Viora Lid as being different from the norm, all of which are a result of its unique angular design. Most importantly, Vaporpath claims the design of Viora Lid makes spills much less likely. The stealth aircraft-like angles direct any spilled liquid back into the cup rather than allowing it to splash onto the person carrying or drinking from the cup.
The actual drinking experience is also changed, with Viora Lid designed to mimic a ceramic cup. This is achieved by the coffee draining into an upper well before reaching your mouth, preventing the blind tipping that often leads to burnt lips or tongues. This well also allows the aroma of the coffee to reach your olfactory glands, reportedly making the whole act of drinking more satisfying.
One failing of Viora Lid is the material it's made from, with Vaporpath opting for high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) rather than greener plastics. The company explains this is due to a combination of costs, heat deflection issues, and the introduction of odors when using compostable materials.
Viora Lid was recently unveiled at the trade show of the Speciality Coffee Association of America. It is now being marketed to specialty coffee shops, who are more likely than the big chains to pay the extra few cents being charged for each lid, which are, after all, designed to be thrown away. Interested parties can request pricing details and/or sample kits from the Viora website.
The video below shows a splash test between Viora Lid and a conventional takeaway coffee lid.
Source: Viora Lid
We slowly tilt the coffee cup toward fearful lips and tongue, carefully trying to judge how close the coffee is to reaching the tiny little opening, which I swear morphs into the shape of knowing and evil grin the closer the coffee gets. This is at first an exercise in judging weight transfer, right? We think we will be able to feel when the coffee is closer to that punishing little orifice, but as we lose confidence in this approach, sensing the coffee must be near, given that we are 12 seconds into the tilt, we switch to our slurping technique; sucking in air in a nice focused stream so we get just a few little bubbles worth from which we can judge just how hot it is. This doesn't work as well with lids though - we've lost all sense of how close the coffee is and we are now sucking in air faster and faster, almost panicked - where is that damned coffee?? Finally, just as we are getting light headed and running out of lung capacity, we hit a pothole and burn both lips, our tongue, and stain that crisp white shirt that was making us feel so fresh and smart.
It's about time someone addressed the disposable coffee cup lid!
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