In the Details: Building a Better Plastic Coffee-Cup Lid

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Anyone who has experienced the wrath of a malfunctioning takeout coffee cup will be relieved to hear that a new alternative is coming to the market. The Viora Lid from Vaporpath promises to end your to-go cup woes with a lid that not only reduces the likelihood of spills but provides an experience closer to sipping from a ceramic mug.

For the lid’s inventor, Doug Fleming, Viora is the result of 20 years of innovating in the beverage-container space. “The current lid is the result of dozens of iterations on almost every aspect of the design,” Fleming says. “What began as a quest to unlock the aroma inside the cup, and the air flow of the volatile vapors [hence the company name, Vaporpath], evolved into a study of the fluid-flow part of the problem.”

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“While few things sound as simple as understanding how a cup works,” Fleming says, “it turns out to be remarkably complicated to get it right once you put a lid on it.” First looking to unleash the aroma of the coffee within, the inventor enlarged the mouth hole of the lid and moved it away from the cup’s rim, creating an effect similar to that of a ceramic mug. When the cup is tipped, a pool of coffee collects in a well right under the drinker’s nose, giving them a fuller sensory experience. The idea: more smell, better taste.

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