Summer fun food and drink - a burning in Seattle · Monday September 15, 2008 by colin newell
Attended Seattle Coffee fest this weekend – overall it was a great time and I will have a much larger report on it shortly.
My rant is on the current issue with the new bio-eco friendly coffee and tea to-go cups that are appearing in cafes everywhere.
What happened was this: My wife and I were in a Bakery in Seattle and while Andrea was preparing her cup of Tea, the Eco-friendly cup collapsed in her hand splashing her with water just off the boil!
Angry I was yes. Frustrated indeed.
We immediately got ice on it and kept it iced for almost 3 hours and she did not need a hospital visit.
Ok. I know all about all the law suits over coffee and take out cups. It is old news. The real issue are these new eco friendly and biodegradable “paper” cups that collapse when you breathe on them… or start to biodegrade the moment the product is poured into them.
My wife dodged a bullet. Many people will not be dodging this bullet and there needs to be more testing of these new eco-friendly products.
Ironically, a gentleman at the next table came over and offered: “I saw the whole thing…” (me now thinking he is a lawyer…) and he turned his hand over revealing a massive weeping scald blister from when he burned his hand a week earlier in the same bakery.
Bakeries and cafes: Get with the program and stop putting your customers at risk!
Summer food fun and drink - Kopi Luwak at Coffee Fest 2008
Colin,
I certainly feel bad for the accident that your wife had with the biodegradablel cup in Seattle. And I am just assuming, that the picture in your article is represetative of the brand of cup that you had the mishap with. However, it is the same lack of education about these cups that you suffer from that is the same reason that this coffee company is using a sub standard product.
I think that every company out there that is assuming the responsibility for disposal of environmentally harmful products instead of leaving it up to the consumer should be applauded. However, people need to do their research when choosing products because of the amount of “greenwashing” going on in the consumer market. This cup that you are showing in the picture is made by Enterprise Paper and has the highest leakage and spillage rates in the history of cup making. But, there are plenty of other cups out there that perform great. In fact, there are a number of 100% biodegradable dual layer cups out there that don’t require java jackets. I can send you samples of these if you like for your own review.
Please don’t give people the wrong impression Colin. Businesses that do good…..also do well”.
— Brad Yates Jan 12, 10:02 am #
Please do Brad! I would love to test the good stuff – and report on it promptly as well!
Cheers!
— colin Jan 12, 02:26 pm #