eCup bringing edible Cupffee to local market
Published:Thursday | September 7, 2023 | 12:06 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
Aiding the push for environmentally safe practices in the food industry, 23-year-old law student Duvagnhn Morris is bringing a tasty alternative to single-use plastic and paper cups to Jamaica.
Through his company eCup, Morris is the sole Jamaican distributor of Cupffee, a wafer cookie cup that you can eat with your meal.
The biodegradable container, Cupffee is an internationally recognised product coming out of Bulgaria which aims to avoid excess waste in the café industry.
Speaking on his urge to bring the novel idea to the Caribbean, Morris told Food he was first introduced to the product on a seemingly regular ‘football Sunday’ on popular social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I found out about the product on Twitter I believe,” he recalled. “I follow football a lot so [I saw that] the players were on and off the pitch and I saw that they were serving these cups to the fans at the Manchester Football Club, so it was from there [that] I followed it up and I made contact with the company.”
Initially intrigued by the idea, Morris says it was another two years of research before he felt confident in bringing the product to the local market.
Founded in 2014 by self-proclaimed Bulagarian free-thinker Miroslav Zapryanov, Cupffee touts itself as a green solution to global waste.
A study conducted by Kent University in Canterbury, England, concluded that 2.5 billion coffee cups are discarded in the United Kingdom annually.
Speaking on the environmental impact, Morris told Food, “As single-use plastic and paper wreak havoc on our oceans and wildlife, Cupffee is a global shift towards sustainable alternatives. The brand is more than a business, it is a life mission. Cupffee is determined to make the green revolution a reality.”
He continued, “This is actually a pretty cool concept; the concept is novel. It’s not common and it’s not in the Caribbean at all, so it was a good opportunity to bring it here.”
According to Morris, Cupffee maintains its crunchy cookie texture for up to 40 minutes with liquid inside and boasts the ability to house warm and cold fluids without leaking.
“You can have coffee with it, you can have your tea. You can have iced cream, you can have your desserts and all that kind of stuff. It’s also 100 per cent vegan and it does not alter the taste of the drink.”
He continued, “You can eat it while you’re having your beverage or you can eat it afterwards. It’s the perfect guilt-free snack.”
Aiming to launch in October, Morris says he is confident the Jamaican audience will take a liking to Cupffee.
“It’s a novel product and I actually brought samples out here before and they received good reception, so that’s why I really decided to move forward with it. It’s still a gamble, yes, but I still think it could be successful.”
Upon launch, the vegan wafer cookie cups will be available in two sizes, a 10ml cup and a 20ml cup.