Custom Paper Coffee Cups

Your Cup Is the Sign Customers Carry Out the Door

A sign over the door reaches people walking past your shop. A printed coffee cup reaches everyone your customer passes for the next half hour: the elevator, the train platform, the desk next to theirs, the photo they post. That is the real case for custom paper coffee cups over plain stock cups with a sticker. The cup does steady work every time it leaves the counter, and it costs no more to hand over than a blank one once it is in your storeroom.

Independent cafes, bakery-cafes, hotel lobbies, coworking spaces, roasters with a tasting bar and coffee carts at farmers markets all order printed cups. So do businesses that are not coffee shops at all: car dealerships with a waiting room, real estate offices at open houses, wedding planners setting up an espresso cart. If a hot drink is being handed to someone, the cup can carry a name.

Choosing Sizes and Building a Cup Family

We print sizes from 4 oz espresso cups to 24 oz extra-large cups, plus custom sizes. Most shops do not need all of them. Three sizes cover a typical menu, and keeping the count low means fewer cartons in the back and fewer lids to track.

The 12 oz cup is the one most shops order in the largest quantity, so it is usually the cup the design is built around. If you want to see that size on its own, with its own fit notes for lids and sleeves, visit the 12 oz paper cups page. Once the 12 oz layout works, we scale it up and down so the whole family looks related.

Wall type is the other big choice. Single wall cups in 250 to 340 gsm board are the lightest and the cheapest to store. Double wall cups keep hands comfortable without a sleeve, which suits drive-thru and walk-away service. You can mix: single wall for espresso and small sizes that cool fast, double wall for the 12 and 16 oz cups that people carry.

Layout Rules That Work on a Tapered Cup

A flat file of your logo is not a cup design. The cup tapers, it has a seam, and only about a third of it faces the customer at once. A few habits make the finished cup look intentional:

• Design on the curved dieline we send, not a rectangle. Shapes that look straight on screen can arc on the printed cup if they are drawn flat.
• Repeat your main mark at least twice around the cup so it faces outward on the counter and in a hand.
• Keep a quiet zone near the seam. Text crossing the seam rarely lines up perfectly.
• Use a type size that reads at arm's length. Tiny taglines turn into gray lines.
• Put a handle, website or QR code near the base, away from the lip area.

CMYK printing handles illustrations, photos and gradients. PMS (Pantone) printing holds an exact brand color across reorders and across other items, like sleeves and bags. A matte finish feels soft and looks calm; gloss makes saturated colors brighter. Spot UV on a logo adds a subtle shine that catches light on a display shelf. Soy- and vegetable-based inks are available if you want them.

Lids, Sleeves and the Rest of the Hot Drink Setup

The cup is only one part of a to-go drink. Lids need to be ordered in the right rim diameter for each size, and a cup with a loose lid gets remembered for the wrong reasons. You can pair your cups with matching paper lids for coffee cups if you are moving away from plastic, or with standard plastic sip lids.

Sleeves are worth adding even with double wall cups if you run promotions. A printed sleeve lets you change the message every month while the cup stays the same. Stirrers, straws and carriers round out the setup for offices and catering orders.

Store cups dry and off the floor. Keep sizes clearly labeled on the shelf, since 12 and 16 oz cups look alike in a hurry.

From Artwork to a Carton of Cups

1. Pick your sizes and wall types, and estimate how many of each you use in a typical month.
2. Send vector artwork (AI, EPS or PDF). If you only have a rough idea, our free design help can build it for you.
3. We send a digital proof on the cup dieline. Ask for a free sample if you want to hold the real cup first.
4. After you approve the proof, production takes 4 to 6 business days. Rush options are available.
5. Cartons ship free to the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia.

The minimum is 100 cups per design, and wholesale pricing improves as quantities go up. Many shops order a mixed first run of three sizes, then reorder the bestseller in bulk.