With an estimated annual worldwide consumption of more than 400 billion cups, coffee is probably the most popular beverage in the world. A transcultural fixture in everyday environments, coffee consumption has evolved from a slow ritual -taking the time to enjoy a cup of one’s favorite brew- to an almost mechanical habit. Portability has slowly emerged as a key feature in the structure of today’s coffee consumption. With it, a myriad of coffee-related objects has slowly taken a preponderant position in our lives. Most of them are single-functional and disposable, such as this large-capacity portable coffee container, designed to take a volume of 2.8 liters (96 fl. oz.) of the popular brew wherever one desires. This container permits to enjoy up to 12 cups of hot coffee at the office, the park or the car...not a minor accomplishment!. The container is a flat cardboard pop-up box with a mylar bag inside. In a single movement, the flat cardboard cutout becomes a squarish box with a handle and a protruding pouring spout. One way to understand this object is as a disposable thermos, because it adopts, although in a simplified way, the thermos’s double-chamber principle to keep the temperature of the beverage inside constant. In fact, the container is as wasteful as most of the objects that facilitate our society’s desire for on-the-go constant coffee consumption, although it is fair to say that it is, after all, a well designed and ingenious vessel.
