For $45, a Monthly Pass to Your Favorite Coffee Shops
Meet CUPS, the all-you-can-drink coffee subscription service.
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As any habitual coffee drinker knows, small purchases tend to quickly add up. With the average price of a latte hovering at around $4 in most American cities, a daily visit to the coffee shop is likely to put a serious dent in most coffee addicts' bank accounts.
But coffee drinking is about to get much cheaper—in Lower Manhattan, at least—with the launch of CUPS. It's is a mobile app that's paired with a subscription-based coffee service. Hailed as "the Netflix of caffeine," the service allows users access to unlimited beverages from many independent coffee shops in New York City—for a price, of course.
The subscription has two primary pricing tiers. A monthly payment of $45 will get you unlimited drip, filter, brew, and pour-over coffee, as well as various brewed teas. A step up to $85 per month adds various espresso beverages and iced coffees into the mix. Cash-strapped users can also purchase packs of between five and 20 beverages per month.
While the service is not strictly speaking "unlimited" (the app imposes a 30 minute time limit per purchase), the monthly subscription is considerably cheaper than buying a beverage a day. Beyond cost, a less obvious benefit is that CUPS encourages users to frequent multiple local establishments, instead of simply defaulting to Starbucks.
Payment is handled—somewhat clumsily—through a dedicated iPhone and Android app. Subscribers select their coffee shop and beverage of choice through the app. They then hand their mobile device to the barista, who enters a code to approve the purchase.
With the service currently limited to Lower Manhattan, we can't vouch for its usability, but provided it catches on CUPS could be the service caffeine addicts have been waiting for.
Via: Fast Co.Design