Reinventing the lid
It would be folly to reinvent the wheel as the saying goes, but another circular favourite could be getting a complete overhaul that may revolutionise the way that we all consumer our take-out cups of coffee.
The Viora Lid is the result of the obsession of Doug Fleming. Fleming took the standardised lid, binned it, and started from scratch to redesign it. His goal was to give coffee drinkers – and himself presumably – a better coffee drinking experience.
One of the main premises of the new lid is that it captures and funnels aromas, channelling it towards the consumer’s nose via the implementation of an enlarged central steam hole. It also comes with a mouth hole that is three times large than it is currently.
“The overwhelming science is that what you characterise as flavour or taste is predominantly contributed by odour,” said Fleming, recalling plenty of research on the subject of neurogastronomy.
To combat the current problems posed by the conventional lids, Fleming, who has been working towards creating coffee-associated products for a number of years, opted to create a bigger mouth hole. Realising that to counter attack unnecessary spills, the hole would have to be moved. And it was.
Repositioned, the hole now sits on the back edge of the lid. The results were positive, though there were problems: “it’s really difficult to manufacture, it turns out,” he said.
The new lid has been put into action and was the subject of a taste test in (where else but) Seattle where 90% of the participants relayed positive feedback and, interestingly, a third of drinkers said they would walk further to head to a coffee shop based “on the lid alone.”
But are lids really a hub for advancement? Well, the answer is yes according to Phil Patton, a design historian and collector who has written about coffee lids. It is “one area in our society where there’s unbelievable innovation.”