Have you ever thought about how the cup you choose can affect your coffee-drinking experience? It’s not just about boosting the flavour; it’s about elevating the complete coffee-drinking experience.
We’ve connected with Sam Soong, Co-Founder of Sttoke, a true coffee connoisseur whose enthusiasm inspired the creation of a cup designed to improve your coffee experience: Swirl Cup!
This interview will focus on the evolving coffee culture, the unique attributes of the Swirl Cup, the importance of sustainability in coffee consumption, and the commitment to improving the worldwide coffee-drinking experience. Prepare to discover the zeal and innovative thinking that fuels Sttoke’s aim to enrich every sip of coffee.
Sttoke’s Swirl Cup: What Is So Special About It?
Contents
Expect an exciting debut as Sttoke introduces its Swirl Cup in Singapore & available online worldwide on May 1st, so keep an eye out to see how this unique cup is about to transform your coffee experience.
Sttoke’s Swirl Cup stands out for its premium, simplistic design and emotive colour palette that enhances the coffee-drinking experience. This masterpiece of form and function features a parabolic bottom for enhanced aroma release, making each sip a sensory delight.
Its stackable design ensures easy storage, while the double-wall construction keeps your coffee cool to the touch, allowing you to savour every moment. The thin rims offer a smooth drinking experience, and the cup’s comfortable grip and finger ledge add an elegant touch to your coffee rituals, making this cup a must-have for coffee enthusiasts seeking both style and functionality.
Advancements in Traditional Coffee
What is it about specialty coffee that has captured the attention and love of people in recent times, especially with the advancements in traditional coffee?
Several progressive factors contribute to this shift. Primarily, the perception of “coffee” has evolved significantly over the past decade or two, particularly in the last 10-20 years.
A pivotal moment can be attributed to Starbucks introducing the concept of the “third place”, where coffee is more than just a source of caffeine but a reflection of a lifestyle choice: a lifestyle of relaxation in a cafe, the experience of working in a cafe, and the social aspect of meeting friends at a cafe have become integral to modern living.
The coffee industry has undergone significant professionalisation, evolving from simple espresso-based drinks to a wide array of sophisticated offerings like a flat white, magic, and a 3-quarter latte.
This shift mirrors the standards seen in wine and whiskey production, emphasising continuous innovation. Baristas worldwide contribute to this technical evolution, introducing advanced techniques like pour-over and flavour-enhancing accessories.
These innovations align with changing consumer preferences, driving constant advancements in cafe experiences, beverage offerings, and purchasing options, showcasing the industry’s adaptability to evolving consumer behaviours.
The Swirl Cup
Originally designed for quality control and coffee cupping, the Swirl Cup enhances the purest form of beverage enjoyment.
Sam
The Swirl Cup is set to make waves in the coffee scene with its unique features. Can you elaborate on how it enhances the coffee-drinking experience beyond what a regular cup offers?
We are particularly excited with the introduction of the Swirl Cup because we have focused on a very minor experience of the cup, yet we believe it is an important in the experience of drinking your coffee – the fact that it keeps your coffee temperature for longer.
It is still a ceramic cup you drink at home, or in a cafe, ceramic is the most neutral vessel material to carry your coffee, but the simple addition to temperature retention gives you comfort, and lengthens the enjoyment of your coffee itself.
The Swirl Cup enhances the coffee-drinking experience by incorporating a rounded bottom that allows for swirling and aroma release, engaging multiple senses beyond just taste.
It enables you to enjoy the visual appeal of the swirling coffee, the delightful aroma it releases, and the unique flavour profile of single-origin coffee.
Additionally, the cup’s cool-touch feature prevents heat transfer to the outside, ensuring a comfortable grip, while its ergonomic design ensures a comfortable resting position for your thumbs and fingers.
Long story short, we appeal to your senses in every aspect of the cup possible.
Environmental Kindness
With sustainability being a growing concern, how does The Swirl Cup contribute to environmental kindness, particularly in terms of reducing waste or promoting eco-friendly practices?
We believe in using a good product for a long time. It’s not the best business model, but we do want to make sure we create a product that gives you that feeling. One that is functional to use, nice to use, and more importantly, wants to use. Like how we will never part with Apple products because their phones and computers function well, are easy to use, and make us want to keep using them.
We do hope to appeal to our audience that our product gives them the confidence to use this one product that we have designed to give you the best experience, so you would not have to think of getting another cup for your personal use.
Key Trends in Consumer
As the coffee industry evolves, what are some key trends you’ve observed, and how does Sttoke adapt to meet the changing needs and preferences of customers?
We’ve observed that customers are increasingly conscious of how they spend their money. They seek value in terms of functionality, aesthetics, and, most importantly, reliability — they want products they can trust.
The evolving technicality of coffee is sparking discussions about flavour, often linked to the coffee’s origin and production method.
Consumers are also delving into home brewing, investing in prosumer-grade equipment and high-quality coffee. The COVID pandemic has seen a rise in home brewers, including my personal friend who transitioned from a foodie to a coffee expert, sometimes surpassing my own technical knowledge.
As we introduce products like the Swirl Cup, we aim to be a trusted companion in the coffee journey, ensuring consistent and excellent coffee from production to consumption. These ideas stem from customer feedback, and we look forward to growing alongside our customers as they explore the vast world of flavours.
Tickling Your Five Senses
Sttoke is known for its emphasis on simplicity, functionality, and elegance in design. Could you delve into the philosophy behind Sttoke’s design approach and how it reflects in products like The Swirl Cup?
Our design philosophy has always surrounded the idea of delivering a wholesome experience through tickling your five senses, basically a product that pleases your sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.
From its appearance to its tactile sensations and overall performance:
- Sound: The sound of coffee dripping or being poured is enticing, setting the stage for the experience.
- Sight: The visual aspect is crucial; watching the coffee swirl can indicate its roast level, influencing expectations.
- Smell: Aroma plays a significant role, providing hints of what to expect in terms of flavour.
- Touch: The cup’s design and how it feels against your lips contribute to the overall enjoyment.
- Taste: Ultimately, it’s about how the cup enhances the flavour, ensuring a well-balanced taste experience.
Functional & Aesthetically Pleasing
How does Sttoke ensure that its products meet both functional and aesthetic standards, particularly in the context of coffee culture?
As a brand, our focus is on expressing our values within the coffee culture. Our product design follows a set of rules that prioritise resonating with consumers rather than aiming for mass appeal.
Over time, we’ve evolved with industry feedback, continuously refining our offerings based on what people love and what they’d like to see more of from us. Our collaboration with Young Baek, the 2023 World Cup Tasters Champion and our ambassador, resulted in the creation of the Swirl Cup.
This cup, designed for quality control (QC) and cupping, emerged from Young Baek’s vision to enhance flavour consistency and showcase coffee farms’ quality.
We’ve combined this purpose with functionality, ensuring that the Swirl Cup benefits everyone across the coffee supply chain, from producers to roasters, baristas, and ultimately, consumers.
This approach reflects our commitment to creating products that not only perform well but also contribute positively to the industry as a whole.
Pour-Over Techniques
The Swirl Cup is ideally suited for pour-overs, also known as filter coffee, which is a minimally manipulated brewing method.
Sam
In your own words, can you share tips or rituals for maximising the enjoyment of coffee when paired with The Swirl Cup? Are there specific brewing techniques or coffee types that complement the cup exceptionally well?
The Swirl Cup is ideally suited for pour-overs, also known as filter coffee, which is a minimally manipulated brewing method. It focuses on extracting the natural flavours from the coffee bean, influenced by how it’s roasted and the coffee producers’ choices. This simplicity allows the Swirl Cup to highlight even the subtlest flavour notes.
Originally designed for quality control and coffee cupping, the Swirl Cup enhances the purest form of beverage enjoyment. To gauge its performance, try it with the lightest coffee, as the Swirl Cup excels in bringing out nuanced flavour profiles.
For an optimal experience, consider using Ethiopian coffee, known for its light roast and delicate tea-like, fruity flavours with subtle hints. Brewing Ethiopian coffee in a pour-over with the Swirl Cup allows you to savour its richness to the fullest.
Future Collaborations With Coffeehouses
Looking ahead, do you envision collaborations with local or international coffeehouses to further promote Sttoke’s vision of bringing people together through coffee?
I’d say both! Or to put it simply, just international!
Over the years, we have made a lot of industry friends from all over the world. We have seen the differences in the coffee culture of different countries. it is so interesting that they are the same, yet a little different.
Our tagline is “Making flavourful connections”, and what it means is that we hope the vessels we create connect people all over the world, starting with something most of us drink every day, that is coffee.
Can you discuss any upcoming projects or collaborations that Sttoke is working on to further enhance the coffee-drinking experience for consumers worldwide?
… we hope to bring what we experience to Singapore, while we bring Singapore to the rest of the world.
Sam
We are thrilled to collaborate with Young Baek, who is developing a platform to train cup tasters globally. Our aim is to become one of the main sponsors for this initiative as he embarks on a mission to spread flavours worldwide.
The Swirl would be our main point of connection, but we do foresee this as a very fruitful collaboration, and we hope to bring what we experience to Singapore, while we bring Singapore to the rest of the world.
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