Want that in a to-go cup?
Yesterday I stopped in to meet with my partner at our us
ual coffee haunt in the valley. I ordered my coffee and asked for it in a ‘to-go’ cup expecting to meet for a few minutes then dash to the city for an evening event.
The coffee shop owners firmly stated that they would gladly serve my coffee in a ceramic mug and re-decant (recant?) my coffee into a to-go cup should I leave before it was done. I insisted; “a to-go cup will be fine, I expect to leave shortly.” They returned; “As part of our new eco-initiative, we prefer not to serve coffee in disposable cups if at all possible. We’ll put your coffee in a mug.”
Yes, my coffee was served in a mug, later re-poured into a paper cup for me to take with me. Three things…
- I didn’t get what I wanted. Coffee to go.
- the coffee was cooled down twice before I left. Once into the cold mug, then into the cold, paper cup.
- They now have the paper cup ‘out there’ and a used mug to wash.
As for the debate of paper vs mug, I’ll defer to this inconclusive examination of the issue.
