Popular New York City coffee chain, 787 Coffee, has stirred customer debates after swapping cups for viral plastic pouches that are being compared to juice pouches or medical bags.
“It feels kind of nostalgic…like a Capri Sun,” Dustin, 33, a defense contractor who works in New York, told the Post.
The bean bags first went viral on TikTok, amassing hundreds of thousands of views across multiple videos, and the social media boost has unsurprisingly caused pouch sales to percolate.
Every beverage save for two — the cappuccino and the flat white — can be bagged at 787, where coffee ranges in price from $6 to $12.
And the container isn’t some online gimmick, according to co-founder Brandon Peña, who explained that the malleable plastic containers, which pinch-hit for the traditional plastic to-go cups, align with 787’s mission to “do what’s right for our community and planet.”
While a sustainable single-use plastic bag might seem like a paradox, these sacks of joe “dissolve faster than hard plastic, reducing their environmental impact,” Peña told Gothamist. “They are reusable, which allows customers to repurpose in creative ways.”
A growing number of restaurants have swapped classic plastic to-go cups and plastic straws for more eco-friendly options. Starbucks notably ditched plastic straws for lids with a sipping hole in 2020 while many other eateries have also made the sustainable switch — although 787 plastic pouches do come with plastic straws.
Dustin, who bought a rum-infused cold brew, told The Post that he definitely could foresee using it instead of the traditional container though it reminded him of “bag milk in elementary school.”