HYUNDAI GLOVIS WEBZINE
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The Reason Why We Should Take Cups Seriously



The Reason Why We Should
Take Cups Seriously

Cups have been with us for so long and are used so often in our daily lives that we sometimes forget how important and significant they are to us.
Don’t you want to learn more about the history of cups that began in ancient times and have done nothing but evolve over time?
Let’s take a deeper look at the various functions of cups and how quickly they have evolved over time.
Article. Editor’s Office / Pictures. Fantapia M Hwanhee Cup Museum, etc



The History of Cups Which Continued to Evolve

Cups have always been at the center of human civilization. The lives of ancient human beings who stored and held liquid in their hands changed and crossed the threshold of civilization as they began making tools like cups from natural materials. People utilized seashells and stones as cups during prehistoric times and many more types of materials such as bronze, porcelain, glass, paper, and plastic during the Ancient and Medieval times. And these cups have developed and evolved over time along with advancements in food, religion, and sports.

Although cups are a type of container used to hold liquid, they were deemed valuable and beautiful for a long time because people directly drank from them. Intended for both household items and art, cups take different forms and features according to their specific use and purpose. Going beyond their basic function as storing or holding liquid, some cups have pictures that only become visible when full or are able to hold the heat inside when filled with hot water so that the person holding them cannot feel the heat.

And what's more, there are also fortune-telling cups that detect poison; and cups with religious meanings that are used for religious ceremonies. Some other examples include Spa Cups used in the Czech Republic to drink hot spring water, measuring cups used for cooking, promotional cups designed for promotions or trophies to be given to sports winners. As such, cups have always evolved into new forms throughout history.


Various Cup Designs and Informative Cup Museums

Cups are known by many names depending on what they’re made of and their purpose. Beakers which are long, tall cups without handles, are nowadays used quite often in coffee scenes. Chalices are often referred to as the Holy Grail and are used to serve wine in religious ceremonies. Flute glasses which have narrow rims are well known as glasses for champagne. Goblets with bases have wide rims, and that makes them very popular when drinking water, soft drinks, and cocktails, as well as wine.

Mugs, which are often called Americano Cups, have handles and no bases. Schooners are tall tumbler glasses for drinking beer, and Snifters are glasses shaped like a tulip with a wide bowl and a narrow rim. We generally use cups or mug cups to drink hot coffee, but glass cups or tumblers for ice coffee. We often refer to cups made of glass as glass cups, but actually the term “cup” covers both glass cups and tumblers.

If you want to see some unique and special cups, I recommend that you visit the Hwanhee Cup Museum located in Anmok, a street famous for coffee in Gangneung. The Cup Museum has artifacts from 76 different countries, including a Queen Victoria coffee set; skull cups; In-myeon-sang-jo-bae; cups from the Inca civilization; mug cups from the Silla dynasty; and pottery cups. The experience will be most interesting as you will also be able to enjoy Augmented Reality as well as NCF technology while you look around.

The Cup Museum located in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province exhibits all the plastic cups used throughout history in Korea. Another Cup Museum founded by Jesam Plastic, a company that manufactures plastic cups for food and drinks, displays all sorts of plastic cups from soju glasses, to Coca-Cola cups, fermented milk cups, slushy cups, and take-out coffee cups. This museum is currently temporarily closed due to the coronavirus.

From Disposable Cups That Fit Modern-day Needs and Unique Eco-friendly Cups

The belief spread widely after the American Civil War that cups shared by many people were the main cause of contagious diseases, leading to the invention of disposable cups by Lawrence Luellen, a lawyer and inventor, in 1909. Health Cups, cups produced by the company he founded later evolved into paper cups that could be thrown away after being used once. The Spanish flu, a pandemic that spread a few years afterwards led to creation of a culture where everyone became accustomed to using disposable paper cups. And a few years later, in 1933, the invention of paper cups with handles helped people drink even hot drinks from them.

New disposable cups made of Styrofoam invented by a company named Dart in the 1960s opened the so called Golden Age of coffee cups. Then in 1964, Anthora Cups, later known as the icons of New York were introduced. Becoming widespread as more and more coffee shops in the United States began introducing take-out services, Anthora Cups are often hailed as the most successful cups in history. Three years later in 1967, a patent for coffee lids that could be torn was filed and in 1975, disposable tear-back coffee lids were introduced.


The second wave of the Renaissance for disposable cups was in the 1980s. As Americans began enjoying various types of coffee such as cappuccino, café latte, and café mocha, many different disposable cups started to be introduced. Some examples include hemisphere-shaped lids and traveler lids that don’t bump people’s noses. Meanwhile, the use of Styrofoam started to dwindle in line with global movements to protect the environment in the 1980s.

Nowadays, cups that are more eco-friendly are being introduced as an alternative to plastic cups, which are known to be detrimental to the environment and paper cups which generate too much trash. Huskee Cups which are made of the skin of beans or husk, by-products of coffee processing are recyclable. Another type of cup garnering attention as being eco-friendly and biodegradable is Lolivita Cups, which are made from seaweed and organic sweeteners such as cherry and citrus. These cups made in New York taste like citrus and strawberry if they’re made of such ingredients. Moreover, the Lavazza Cookie Cup, which is famous as the world’s most delicious cup, is actually edible as it’s made of cookies. This type of cup generates zero trash as people would be drinking coffee from cookie cups, which they will eat afterwards.

Cups Made of Natural Materials Are Biodegradable

In addition, many startups around the world are working hard to develop eco-friendly disposable cups using seaweed, which is known for absorbing carbon dioxide, purifying the marine ecosystem, and also for being abundant in vitamins and minerals. They produce biodegradable paper cups or bio plastics using seaweed. A prime example would be the paper cups invented by Marine Innovation, a local company, using seaweed such as sea mustard, agar, and sea strings. By switching the polyethylene coatings used for the inside of cups from vinyl to chitosan from crab shells, the cups became harder and more solid. Evoware, an Indonesian company, introduced disposable cups made by adding starch to seaweed such as sea mustard and kelp then heating them up. Biodegradation of these cups takes around a month and they are edible since no preservatives have been added.

Researching and developing new materials always come first before any eco-friendly cup is invented. Moorim, a Korea-based company that manufactures paper products, developed Neoforet Cups which are made using water-soluble coating solution. The company is currently supplying these Cups to convenience stores, large supermarkets, and coffee shops. Neoforet, the main organic matter used for the cup, is proven to be eco-friendly in that it is biodegradable through ultraviolet rays, certain levels of temperature, humidity, and by microorganisms. The same materials can be used for producing paper straws, paper cups, and paper packaging material, all of which can replace plastic products. India’s EnviGreen developed biodegradable vinyl using 12 ingredients including potato, corn, banana, and flower oil. The vinyl dissolves in a day when put in water and within 15 seconds if the water is hot. Considering this benefit, vinyl can be used to produce eco-friendly cups.

At a time when our society is calling for a more sustainable environment, companies are now focusing their core values on their ESG responsibilities and performance more than ever. As a result, more emphasis is put on individuals to follow eco-friendly practices in their daily lives as well. So, now is the time to step up and become a part of the movement to save the environment that is becoming polluted day after day by utilizing cups made of natural materials that can break down and return to nature.



2021.08.01

Cups have been with us for so long and are used so often in our daily lives that we sometimes forget how important and significant they are to us.
Don’t you want to learn more about the history of cups that began in ancient times and have done nothing but evolve over time?
Let’s take a deeper look at the various functions of cups and how quickly they have evolved over time.
Article. Editor’s Office / Pictures. Fantapia M Hwanhee Cup Museum, etc

The History of Cups Which Continued to Evolve

Cups have always been at the center of human civilization. The lives of ancient human beings who stored and held liquid in their hands changed and crossed the threshold of civilization as they began making tools like cups from natural materials. People utilized seashells and stones as cups during prehistoric times and many more types of materials such as bronze, porcelain, glass, paper, and plastic during the Ancient and Medieval times. And these cups have developed and evolved over time along with advancements in food, religion, and sports.

Although cups are a type of container used to hold liquid, they were deemed valuable and beautiful for a long time because people directly drank from them. Intended for both household items and art, cups take different forms and features according to their specific use and purpose. Going beyond their basic function as storing or holding liquid, some cups have pictures that only become visible when full or are able to hold the heat inside when filled with hot water so that the person holding them cannot feel the heat.

And what’s more, there are also fortune-telling cups that detect poison; and cups with religious meanings that are used for religious ceremonies. Some other examples include Spa Cups used in the Czech Republic to drink hot spring water, measuring cups used for cooking, promotional cups designed for promotions or trophies to be given to sports winners. As such, cups have always evolved into new forms throughout history.

 

Various Cup Designs and Informative Cup Museums

Cups are known by many names depending on what they’re made of and their purpose. Beakers which are long, tall cups without handles, are nowadays used quite often in coffee scenes. Chalices are often referred to as the Holy Grail and are used to serve wine in religious ceremonies. Flute glasses which have narrow rims are well known as glasses for champagne. Goblets with bases have wide rims, and that makes them very popular when drinking water, soft drinks, and cocktails, as well as wine.

Mugs, which are often called Americano Cups, have handles and no bases. Schooners are tall tumbler glasses for drinking beer, and Snifters are glasses shaped like a tulip with a wide bowl and a narrow rim. We generally use cups or mug cups to drink hot coffee, but glass cups or tumblers for ice coffee. We often refer to cups made of glass as glass cups, but actually the term “cup” covers both glass cups and tumblers.

If you want to see some unique and special cups, I recommend that you visit the Hwanhee Cup Museum located in Anmok, a street famous for coffee in Gangneung. The Cup Museum has artifacts from 76 different countries, including a Queen Victoria coffee set; skull cups; In-myeon-sang-jo-bae; cups from the Inca civilization; mug cups from the Silla dynasty; and pottery cups. The experience will be most interesting as you will also be able to enjoy Augmented Reality as well as NCF technology while you look around.

The Cup Museum located in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province exhibits all the plastic cups used throughout history in Korea. Another Cup Museum founded by Jesam Plastic, a company that manufactures plastic cups for food and drinks, displays all sorts of plastic cups from soju glasses, to Coca-Cola cups, fermented milk cups, slushy cups, and take-out coffee cups. This museum is currently temporarily closed due to the coronavirus.

 

From Disposable Cups That Fit Modern-day Needs and Unique Eco-friendly Cups

The belief spread widely after the American Civil War that cups shared by many people were the main cause of contagious diseases, leading to the invention of disposable cups by Lawrence Luellen, a lawyer and inventor, in 1909. Health Cups, cups produced by the company he founded later evolved into paper cups that could be thrown away after being used once. The Spanish flu, a pandemic that spread a few years afterwards led to creation of a culture where everyone became accustomed to using disposable paper cups. And a few years later, in 1933, the invention of paper cups with handles helped people drink even hot drinks from them.

New disposable cups made of Styrofoam invented by a company named Dart in the 1960s opened the so called Golden Age of coffee cups. Then in 1964, Anthora Cups, later known as the icons of New York were introduced. Becoming widespread as more and more coffee shops in the United States began introducing take-out services, Anthora Cups are often hailed as the most successful cups in history. Three years later in 1967, a patent for coffee lids that could be torn was filed and in 1975, disposable tear-back coffee lids were introduced.

The second wave of the Renaissance for disposable cups was in the 1980s. As Americans began enjoying various types of coffee such as cappuccino, café latte, and café mocha, many different disposable cups started to be introduced. Some examples include hemisphere-shaped lids and traveler lids that don’t bump people’s noses. Meanwhile, the use of Styrofoam started to dwindle in line with global movements to protect the environment in the 1980s.

Nowadays, cups that are more eco-friendly are being introduced as an alternative to plastic cups, which are known to be detrimental to the environment and paper cups which generate too much trash. Huskee Cups which are made of the skin of beans or husk, by-products of coffee processing are recyclable. Another type of cup garnering attention as being eco-friendly and biodegradable is Lolivita Cups, which are made from seaweed and organic sweeteners such as cherry and citrus. These cups made in New York taste like citrus and strawberry if they’re made of such ingredients. Moreover, the Lavazza Cookie Cup, which is famous as the world’s most delicious cup, is actually edible as it’s made of cookies. This type of cup generates zero trash as people would be drinking coffee from cookie cups, which they will eat afterwards.

Cups Made of Natural Materials Are Biodegradable

In addition, many startups around the world are working hard to develop eco-friendly disposable cups using seaweed, which is known for absorbing carbon dioxide, purifying the marine ecosystem, and also for being abundant in vitamins and minerals. They produce biodegradable paper cups or bio plastics using seaweed. A prime example would be the paper cups invented by Marine Innovation, a local company, using seaweed such as sea mustard, agar, and sea strings. By switching the polyethylene coatings used for the inside of cups from vinyl to chitosan from crab shells, the cups became harder and more solid. Evoware, an Indonesian company, introduced disposable cups made by adding starch to seaweed such as sea mustard and kelp then heating them up. Biodegradation of these cups takes around a month and they are edible since no preservatives have been added.

Researching and developing new materials always come first before any eco-friendly cup is invented. Moorim, a Korea-based company that manufactures paper products, developed Neoforet Cups which are made using water-soluble coating solution. The company is currently supplying these Cups to convenience stores, large supermarkets, and coffee shops. Neoforet, the main organic matter used for the cup, is proven to be eco-friendly in that it is biodegradable through ultraviolet rays, certain levels of temperature, humidity, and by microorganisms. The same materials can be used for producing paper straws, paper cups, and paper packaging material, all of which can replace plastic products. India’s EnviGreen developed biodegradable vinyl using 12 ingredients including potato, corn, banana, and flower oil. The vinyl dissolves in a day when put in water and within 15 seconds if the water is hot. Considering this benefit, vinyl can be used to produce eco-friendly cups.

At a time when our society is calling for a more sustainable environment, companies are now focusing their core values on their ESG responsibilities and performance more than ever. As a result, more emphasis is put on individuals to follow eco-friendly practices in their daily lives as well. So, now is the time to step up and become a part of the movement to save the environment that is becoming polluted day after day by utilizing cups made of natural materials that can break down and return to nature.