Bubble tea lovers who are also concerned about the plastic waste from single-use tea cups, lids and straws will want to check out Vancouver's Teaspoons & Co’s guilt-free bubble tea packaged in aluminum cans.
The aluminum cans can be recycled an infinite amount of times in their lifecycles. Teaspoons & Co has recently started to package all of their drinks in these newly-arrived cans, excluding their slushes and hot beverages offerings.
The beverage cans also come with a bamboo fiber straw that sits through the hole perfectly, does not fall apart easily and is big enough to simultaneously suck up the toppings and the tea.
Prior to the aluminum can, this downtown bubble tea shop was the first in Canada to adopt the “Butterfly Cup” — a plastic-free paper cup that forgoes the use of lids through a unique butterfly-fold design.
Teaspoons & Co’s Tik Tok video introducing the cup garnered seven million views. A&W later adopted the cup as well.
@teaspoons.co Our cups! #teaspoonsco #vancouverfood #yvreats #bobatiktok #bobatok #smallbusiness #bubbletea #ecofriendly #butterflycup ♬ Morning Routine - Ghostrifter Official
However, the innovative, iconic cups ran out last month, and it would take months to import them from overseas, Teaspoons & Co. Founder Joyce Yim told Vancouver Is Awesome. That’s why they decided to switch to aluminum cans.
Yim added that the “Butterfly Cups” probably wouldn't return as producing them requires chopping down trees and shipping them to Vancouver from abroad causes pollution.
“We have made a commitment to be as proactive as we can when it comes to the environment,” said Yim. “Unfortunately, we are part of an industry that’s notorious for its use of disposable plastic waste.”
Teaspoons & Co is in full swing to ditch plastics. In addition to offering bubble tea at the shop, they also sell DIY bubble tea kits and reusable tea cups online. Each kit contains a metal straw, allowing bubble tea lovers to reduce waste at home.
