The evolution of the coffee cup lid
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0:00 - 0:02You never give it any thought,
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0:02 - 0:04and there are billions of them out there,
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0:04 - 0:07but the amount of design
and passion and creativity -
0:07 - 0:12that goes into this
little disc is remarkable. -
0:12 - 0:14[Small thing.]
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0:14 - 0:15[Big idea.]
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0:18 - 0:22The coffee cup lid
is a lid for your coffee cup. -
0:22 - 0:24It snaps on.
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0:24 - 0:25It has an opening.
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0:25 - 0:28You've got lids with a little
latch that opens and closes. -
0:29 - 0:31You've got ones that
are in creative shapes. -
0:31 - 0:34Coffee cup lids have their own vocabulary.
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0:34 - 0:36People talk about the "peripheral skirts,"
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0:36 - 0:39the "press-in dimples,"
the "fragrance outlets," -
0:39 - 0:41the "slosh factor."
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0:41 - 0:42But you need these words,
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0:42 - 0:44because so much thought and innovation
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0:44 - 0:46goes into these coffee cup lids.
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0:46 - 0:49Our society is just more and more mobile.
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0:49 - 0:51Everything is on the move.
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0:51 - 0:52The good part: it's convenient.
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0:52 - 0:55You can drink coffee anywhere,
you don't have the stay in the diner. -
0:55 - 0:58It can be in the subway.
You can be walking. -
0:58 - 1:01The bad part is, it's
harder to savor a coffee -
1:01 - 1:03when you're taking it on the road.
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1:03 - 1:06The first patent for a lid on a cup
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1:06 - 1:07was in 1934,
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1:07 - 1:09but it was for cold beverages.
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1:09 - 1:12And in 1950, this guy
named James Reifsnyder -
1:12 - 1:15invented the first snap-on lid.
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1:15 - 1:18But it didn't have
an opening for drinking. -
1:18 - 1:21In the '60s there was
this huge cultural shift, -
1:21 - 1:24where people started
drinking coffee on the move. -
1:24 - 1:28And 7-Eleven was the first
to sell coffee to go. -
1:28 - 1:31And then came this revolution in 1967.
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1:31 - 1:34A man named
Alan Frank invented a lid -
1:34 - 1:36that you could peel a tab off,
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1:36 - 1:37like in the shape of a guitar pick,
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1:38 - 1:39and drink it from there.
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1:39 - 1:41In 1975, another big advance:
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1:41 - 1:45you could peel back a tab
and attach it to the lid itself. -
1:45 - 1:49So, more and more people
started drinking coffee on the go. -
1:49 - 1:54In 1984, a watershed moment
in the history of coffee cup lids: -
1:54 - 1:57the birth of the traveler lid.
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1:57 - 2:00And it is iconic --
you've seen it a million times. -
2:00 - 2:02And it solved a whole host of problems.
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2:03 - 2:06It's designed so that you
don't splash your face, -
2:06 - 2:09because it's higher than
any of the other ones. -
2:09 - 2:12And it's got this protruding rim,
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2:12 - 2:15so it slightly cools the coffee
before it hits your lips. -
2:15 - 2:18It's got a small depression
in the center for your nose, -
2:18 - 2:22so you can really get in there
and get maximum aroma. -
2:22 - 2:25It's got this tiny air hole
that lets the steam out -
2:25 - 2:27and stops it from creating a vacuum.
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2:27 - 2:30This is one of those objects
where you just don't notice it -
2:30 - 2:32until it dribbles on your lap.
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2:32 - 2:36So I think the coffee cup lid
will just continue to evolve, -
2:36 - 2:39and you're going to see a move
away from single-use plastic lids -
2:39 - 2:42to lids that are
a little more sustainable. -
2:42 - 2:43We're not going to stop moving.
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2:43 - 2:45We're not going to stop drinking coffee.
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2:45 - 2:49And I think that's what these coffee
lid engineers are trying to do, -
2:49 - 2:54is to make it so that
the experience of taking it on the road -
2:54 - 2:58is as good as sitting in a restaurant,
drinking from a ceramic cup. -
2:58 - 3:01Because, you know,
coffee is serious business.
- Title:
- The evolution of the coffee cup lid
- Speaker:
- A.J. Jacobs
- Description:
-
Author A.J. Jacobs shows how the coffee cup lid was perfectly designed to give you a full sensory experience while drinking.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED Series
- Duration:
- 03:02
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The evolution of the coffee cup lid |