Countercup failure, leads to stackable porcelain latte cups idea
We just spent two years trying to develop a countersunk, heated latte cup dispenser. And we failed.
Warm cups would just magically be pushed up into your kitchen counter (or more likely, a café's countertop). In the end, the prototype became way too complicated, in order to handle the weight of the cups, and their handles. Here's what the final prototype looked like (with the insulating wrapper removed).
The problem I was trying to solve is this:
Stacking cups on a machine is messy looking, dangerous (they can topple), and being upside down, the cup lip is hottest, not the bottom of the cup. Plus, it's not very high-density.
I recently found that cup warmers (tho less fancy than our idea) do exist:
and so I decided to solve this problem by designing an attractive latte cup that was optimised for stacking.
My design wouldn't topple, it'd heat evenly (from the bottom) and be latte-art friendly.
I received these photos of the prototype from our Taiwanese ceramic maker today:
They're very similar to our “Tispy Cups” in that they're made of thin, high-temperature, white porcelain (“bone china”), with a sandy outside texture, and a polished inside. They're sized to take a medium sized latte, or a flat white. They also happen to be about the same size and somewhat similar shape as cupping bowls. Yes, they're thin, but porcelain is usually quite hard to damage, so that should be ok. I prefer my cups thin so that I don't have to overheat the milk to compensate for cup cooling.
We're still quite a few months away from having these.
Next step, we'll receive them, use, wash, stack and test them.
Updated 2023/12/08