Our 5 Fav Plastic-Free Reusable Coffee Cups

Find the perfect reusable coffee cup for you first time round! Only the best have made it onto the list of our five fav plastic-free reusable coffee cups and their pros and cons…

Think about the material you want it to be made of, the size you want it to be and how you want to sip from it before you buy.

Here are our five fav plastic-free reusable coffee cup options (in no particular order!) and their pros and cons…

1. STAINLESS STEEL REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS

Stainless steel reusable coffee cups are generally the most insulated, keeping your coffee piping hot, as well as any cold drinks cold. They are also mostly spill proof and built for rough, long travel – the four by four of reusable coffee cups.

Look for one that is double walled as this means it’ll be cool to touch on the outside and your drink will stay the perfect temperature inside – hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold.

Stainless steel does not retain or leach flavours. And, it is fully recyclable at the end of its life, so it is a good material choice.

The lids of the majority of these travel cups are made from polypropylene, however the Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Thermal Insulated Bottle TK Pro (US here and UK here) is completely plastic free.

We recommend Cheeki’s insulated coffee cups and Klean Kanteen insulated tumblers (both AU). Those in the US/Canada can get Klean Kanteen’s insulated tumblers here or here and you’ll find them here if you’re in South Africa and here if you’re in the UK.

You can now get double-walled and vacuum insulated stainless steel KeepCups (UK here / AU here).

2. CERAMIC REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS

Ceramic coffee cups are beautiful to hold and look at. Each one is unique and handmade.

Their lids generally mimic a disposable coffee cup lid and are mostly made of silicon, so they are soft and gentle, but not leakproof. You can sip from the lid or directly from the ceramic cup. We have come across one 100% ceramic coffee cup including the lid! It is made by Lyttelton Pottery and sold in New Zealand.

The cup itself will become warm when a hot beverage is inside, so care needs to be taken to not overheat your hands.

Biome has a ceramic coffee cup that is made by a local Australian pottery, Robert Gordon, which is one of Australia's last large-scale potteries that employs skilled craftsmen to create handmade items. This Sttoke cup has a ceramic interior and a stainless steel outer layer and is incredibly sleek (it won gold in the product design category of the 2018 Good Design Awards!).

If none of those strike your fancy, you’ll find a lot of handmade ceramic reusable coffee cups, including personalised keep cups, on Etsy.

3. GLASS REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS

Glass is great to drink from, but glass reusable coffee cups need some form of insulating sleeve so that you don’t burn your hand and to keep the coffee warm.

This can be made from silicone, cork or, in the case of the Rubber Cuppy, a rubber bicycle inner tube (they are also made from recycled jars – a true zero waste reusable coffee cup!).

The lids of these are often made from silicone or polypropylene and are generally splash safe, but not spill proof.

They look sleek, make the coffee taste great and work well for drinking while you walk or commute to work.

We recommend glass KeepCups (AU here / UK here / worldwide here), and JOCO glass reusable cups (AU). If you’re after a fully glass reusable travel mug, Life Without Plastic (US/CAN) has one with a fully glass lid!

Unfortunately our first and favourite Melbourne-made reusable coffee cup, Rubber Cuppy, which was made from reused glass jars and upcycled bicycle tyres, is no longer being made.

4. BAMBOO REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS

We recently discovered bamboo reusable coffee cups, which are made from bamboo fibre and corn fibre and natural resin, making them biodegradable when buried. Like glass ones, they also need a heat resistant sleeve, so they come with a silicone sleeve.

**IMPORTANT EDIT: A German study has found that bamboo reusable coffee mugs made of bamboo resin actually leach formaldehyde and melamine in their content when reaching a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit), which is the normal temperature of a hot coffee. The study also notes that “the thick-walled plastic-containing cup will not rot on the compost even in years” and that “even industrial composting plants do not decompose the material”. Therefore, we no longer recommend getting a bamboo reusable coffee cup**

5. RECYCLED PLASTIC REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS

Not plastic-free but made of recycled plastic so we’ll allow it!

We personally prefer plastic-free reusable coffee cups, as we don’t need any more plastic in this world and we think coffee tastes so much better when drunk out of a ceramic, steel or glass cup and there’s the potential issue of plastic leeching into your hot drink, but if you are after a plastic reusable coffee cup, get one made from recycled plastic.

The rCup (AU here, UK here, and other countries here) is the world’s first reusable cup made from recycled coffee cups.

All of these options are better than a single-use takeaway coffee cup! The other alternative is to sit down and take the time to enjoy your coffee at the café in their dine-in coffee cups. But, who has time for that right? ;)

Find out which are our five favourite non-plastic reusable water bottles, two of which are 100% plastic free, as well as our least favourite here: Our 5 Fav Non-Plastic Reusable Water Bottles (& Our Least Favourite!).

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