0:00:00.073,0:00:01.540
You never give it any thought,

0:00:01.564,0:00:03.845
and there are billions of them out there,

0:00:03.869,0:00:07.416
but the amount of design[br]and passion and creativity

0:00:07.440,0:00:12.296
that goes into this[br]little disc is remarkable.

0:00:12.320,0:00:13.553
[Small thing.]

0:00:13.577,0:00:15.449
[Big idea.]

0:00:18.033,0:00:22.350
The coffee cup lid[br]is a lid for your coffee cup.

0:00:22.374,0:00:23.711
It snaps on.

0:00:23.735,0:00:24.958
It has an opening.

0:00:24.982,0:00:28.479
You've got lids with a little[br]latch that opens and closes.

0:00:28.503,0:00:31.110
You've got ones that[br]are in creative shapes.

0:00:31.134,0:00:33.836
Coffee cup lids have their own vocabulary.

0:00:33.860,0:00:36.226
People talk about the "peripheral skirts,"

0:00:36.250,0:00:39.206
the "press-in dimples,"[br]the "fragrance outlets,"

0:00:39.230,0:00:40.596
the "slosh factor."

0:00:40.620,0:00:41.906
But you need these words,

0:00:41.930,0:00:44.066
because so much thought and innovation

0:00:44.090,0:00:46.176
goes into these coffee cup lids.

0:00:46.200,0:00:49.196
Our society is just more and more mobile.

0:00:49.220,0:00:50.686
Everything is on the move.

0:00:50.710,0:00:52.213
The good part: it's convenient.

0:00:52.237,0:00:55.440
You can drink coffee anywhere,[br]you don't have the stay in the diner.

0:00:55.464,0:00:57.535
It can be in the subway.[br]You can be walking.

0:00:57.559,0:01:00.606
The bad part is, it's[br]harder to savor a coffee

0:01:00.630,0:01:03.256
when you're taking it on the road.

0:01:03.280,0:01:05.891
The first patent for a lid on a cup

0:01:05.915,0:01:07.196
was in 1934,

0:01:07.220,0:01:08.846
but it was for cold beverages.

0:01:08.870,0:01:12.206
And in 1950, this guy[br]named James Reifsnyder

0:01:12.230,0:01:15.146
invented the first snap-on lid.

0:01:15.170,0:01:17.906
But it didn't have[br]an opening for drinking.

0:01:17.930,0:01:21.386
In the '60s there was[br]this huge cultural shift,

0:01:21.410,0:01:23.936
where people started[br]drinking coffee on the move.

0:01:23.960,0:01:27.526
And 7-Eleven was the first[br]to sell coffee to go.

0:01:27.550,0:01:30.819
And then came this revolution in 1967.

0:01:30.880,0:01:33.686
A man named[br]Alan Frank invented a lid

0:01:33.710,0:01:35.696
that you could peel a tab off,

0:01:35.720,0:01:37.476
like in the shape of a guitar pick,

0:01:37.500,0:01:38.866
and drink it from there.

0:01:38.890,0:01:41.316
In 1975, another big advance:

0:01:41.340,0:01:44.946
you could peel back a tab[br]and attach it to the lid itself.

0:01:44.970,0:01:48.540
So, more and more people[br]started drinking coffee on the go.

0:01:48.564,0:01:54.126
In 1984, a watershed moment[br]in the history of coffee cup lids:

0:01:54.150,0:01:57.067
the birth of the traveler lid.

0:01:57.091,0:01:59.856
And it is iconic --[br]you've seen it a million times.

0:01:59.880,0:02:02.486
And it solved a whole host of problems.

0:02:02.510,0:02:06.406
It's designed so that you[br]don't splash your face,

0:02:06.430,0:02:09.332
because it's higher than[br]any of the other ones.

0:02:09.356,0:02:11.576
And it's got this protruding rim,

0:02:11.600,0:02:14.686
so it slightly cools the coffee[br]before it hits your lips.

0:02:14.710,0:02:18.326
It's got a small depression[br]in the center for your nose,

0:02:18.350,0:02:21.546
so you can really get in there[br]and get maximum aroma.

0:02:21.570,0:02:24.586
It's got this tiny air hole[br]that lets the steam out

0:02:24.610,0:02:27.336
and stops it from creating a vacuum.

0:02:27.360,0:02:30.186
This is one of those objects[br]where you just don't notice it

0:02:30.210,0:02:31.726
until it dribbles on your lap.

0:02:31.750,0:02:36.007
So I think the coffee cup lid[br]will just continue to evolve,

0:02:36.031,0:02:39.078
and you're going to see a move[br]away from single-use plastic lids

0:02:39.102,0:02:41.820
to lids that are[br]a little more sustainable.

0:02:41.820,0:02:43.314
We're not going to stop moving.

0:02:43.314,0:02:45.246
We're not going to stop drinking coffee.

0:02:45.246,0:02:49.202
And I think that's what these coffee[br]lid engineers are trying to do,

0:02:49.202,0:02:53.988
is to make it so that[br]the experience of taking it on the road

0:02:53.988,0:02:58.284
is as good as sitting in a restaurant,[br]drinking from a ceramic cup.

0:02:58.284,0:03:01.192
Because, you know,[br]coffee is serious business.