An Auckland-based family have discovered a way to make leak-proof edible coffee cups from natural ingredients.
Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of twiice edible cups, tells Jesse Mulligan the idea first came from something his wife Simone casually suggested five years ago – 'What if you could eat your coffee cup?'
An all-natural edible cup designed by the NZ company twiice Photo: Supplied
Although everyone else who heard Simone's idea "promptly forgot" about it, Jamie started mulling over how he could actually make an edible cup and tried it out in his kitchen.
After his father Stephen stepped in to design a mold, they eventually came up with an all-natural vanilla biscuit product that works as a leak-proof cup.
There are companies manufacturing similar products around the world, Jamie says, but they're all waffle-based.
"Ours is more of a brittle cup that lasts quite a substantial amount longer and tastes better, too."
The base ingredients of twiice cups are flour, sugar, water, natural vanilla and coconut oil.
They stay intact for at least several hours after carrying hot liquid and also taste delicious, Jamie says, but their biggest selling point is sustainability.
While other natural cups are commercially compostable, twiice cups - if they're not eaten - can be composted in a home garden.
"We throw away somewhere in the region of 3 billion single-use cups around the world … so the idea of twiice is a fun alternative."
Currently, twiice supplies New Zealand cafes with takeaway hot drink cups and they've recently signed up to supply cups to the Kiwi restaurant chain Lone Star for their kids' desserts.
Next up, they're focusing on the UK edible cup market and currently raising capital to start manufacturing over there by the end of 2023.
"There's massive opportunites for a product like this in UK and Europe where governments are forcing a lot of companies out of single-use ... The manufacturers are ready to go and the distributors are ready."
Jamie & Simone Cashmore with Jamie's parents Stephen & Theresa - the Auckland family behind edible cup company twiice Photo: twiice
