Driven by the new Chinese tea and coffee consumption boom, performance requirements for hot beverage containers are increasing. Hollow cups and corrugated cups, with their excellent thermal insulation, have become the mainstream in the market. These two cup types each have their own unique characteristics in terms of material craftsmanship and practical performance, and their development trajectory reflects the balance between environmental protection and consumer experience.
The differences in materials and manufacturing between the two types of cups:
The hollow cup uses food-grade white cardboard as its core substrate. A PE film is applied to the inner and outer surfaces through a lamination process to form a barrier layer. Special molding techniques then create a double-layered wall structure, leaving an air gap in the middle that acts as a natural thermal barrier. Manufacturing requires precise control of the fit of the double-layered wall to ensure both air insulation and post-molding deformation.
Corrugated cups utilize a three-layer composite structure, consisting of face paper, a corrugated core, and backing paper. A corrugated paper core is inserted between two layers of base paper using a corrugating machine to create a complete corrugated board. This is then die-cut, heated, and pressed into the cup shape. Both cup types require a PE coating for waterproofing and leak-proofing, ensuring safety for hot beverages.
- Precise Insulation and Temperature Retention:
The air layer between the double-walled cup creates a natural thermal barrier, preventing burns and slowing the cooling of the beverage, extending its optimal drinking time.
- High-Quality Appearance and Customizability:
The cup’s smooth, undulating body allows for high-precision, full-screen printing, accommodating personalized designs like brand logos and artwork. This enhances the beverage’s premium feel and brand recognition, further aligning with the aesthetics of high-end tea and coffee beverages.
Advantages of hollow cup：
- Precise Insulation and Temperature Retention:
The air layer between the double-walled cup creates a natural thermal barrier, preventing burns and slowing the cooling of the beverage, extending its optimal drinking time.
- High-Quality Appearance and Customizability:
The cup’s smooth, undulating body allows for high-precision, full-screen printing, accommodating personalized designs like brand logos and artwork. This enhances the beverage’s premium feel and brand recognition, further aligning with the aesthetics of high-end tea and coffee beverages.
- Lightweight and Portable:
The hollow cup‘s structure is more lightweight, resulting in a lighter weight for the same capacity, making it easier for consumers to carry. It also takes up less space when stacked, making it suitable for food delivery and outdoor use.
Disadvantages of Hollow Cups:
- High Cost and Recycling Barrier:
The double-layer composite structure complicates the production process, resulting in a higher price than regular paper cups. The PE coating and paper base are difficult to separate, making disassembly expensive under conventional recycling systems and leading to resource waste.
- Weak Impact Resistance:
While more durable than single-layer paper cups, they lack the crush and impact resistance of the three-layer structure of corrugated cups. They are prone to deformation from severe collisions or prolonged handling, potentially compromising their sealing properties.
- Limited Functional Expandability:
The cup wall has a simple structure and lacks the outer corrugation that enhances grip like corrugated cups.
Advantages of corrugated cups
- Superior Insulation and Grip Safety:
The wavy corrugated paper core creates multiple layers of air insulation, while the outer corrugations increase friction and reduce the risk of hot drinks slipping, making it particularly suitable for hot beverages like coffee.
- Sturdy and Durable Construction:
The combination of a thick, laminated paper and corrugated paper base significantly enhances the cup’s compressive strength, resisting deformation and breakage, making it highly resistant to the bumpy rides of takeout delivery.
- Enhanced Environmental Compatibility:
Some products utilize a biodegradable corrugated paper base combined with a PLA coating. The three-layer paper structure is more recyclable than the composite structure of hollow cups, making it more suitable for green consumption.
- Wide Temperature Compatibility:
The thick base and multi-layer insulation design can withstand both hot drinks above 80°C and condensation from cold drinks, preventing softening and deformation, making it suitable for a wide range of applications.
Disadvantages of corrugated cups
- Design and shipping costs are limited:
The corrugated outer layer limits the ability to create detailed printing, limiting customization. The heavy structure results in a high weight per cup, requiring more space when stacked.
- Balancing minimum order quantity and cost is difficult:
The moq is high, but the combined shipping and inventory costs are slightly higher.
Future Development Prospects for Hollow and Corrugated Cups:
- Environmentally friendly materials drive sustainable development:
With increasingly stringent environmental regulations, hot drink cups will increasingly utilize biodegradable materials.
- Process improvements reduce costs:
Production processes will continue to be optimized to reduce production costs by increasing efficiency and reducing raw material consumption.