Hyderabad: Akif Hussain, a young Hyderabad-based engineer-entrepreneur was on his trip to Guntur, Andhra Pradesh where he chanced upon a roadside tea-seller, who was serving tea not in plastic but ‘eatable cups’. This innovative idea inspired him to bring those ‘edible cups’ to Hyderabad.
At a very reasonable price of Rs. 20, Akif, owner of the Spin Cafe at Tolichowki, Hyderabad, is serving coffee in edible cups made of chocolate-flavored biscuits. So you can sip your delicious coffee and then eat the cup – generating zero waste and amazingly good taste!
Speaking to Siasat.com, Akif said, “I have found this idea really good and this could have a positive impact on the environment as well as something new and sweet for the customers.”
These edible cups were first introduced in Hyderabad in 2019 by a city-based company and they named it ‘Eat Cup’. It is completely edible and is capable of holding all kinds of beverages, the company then claimed. However, since then no cafe or restaurant introduced the idea of edible cups.
Spin Cafe is the first cafe in Hyderabad which is serving a beverage in edible cups, Akif said. The cups are sourced from Sagar traders, a city-based ice-cream cone supplier.
Speaking about the durability of cups, the 24-year-old engineer-entrepreneur said, “These 65 ml cups have the capability to hold any hot or cold beverage for up to 1 to 1.5 hours.”
Customers often wonder how cups can be edible, said Akif. “But, when I serve coffee and tell them that they can take a bite of the cup while sipping the coffee, they are amused,” he said. Many loved the idea. “The chocolate rounded on the top of the cup brings a new essence to the coffee,” said Ali, a frequent visitor of the café.
“Getting a cup of coffee, that too with an edible cup, priced at Rs. 20 is rare,” said Minhaj, a graduate.
He further stated that his customers did not believe in what he said and just sipped their coffee and left away those cups without eating them.
Edible cups are basically wafer-y which are made by using biscuit and pure butter. Explaining more about how those cups are made, Akif said: “These cups are in other way crisp biscuits with loaded butter which are delightful to have along with coffee or tea.”
He also said he wants to make this idea viral and urge cafes and restaurants in Hyderabad to go for it and take a step forward in reducing the negative ecological impact of plastic or paper cups.
The café is housed in the Spin table tennis arena, which was set up in 2020. The gaming arena also has a play station 5, which is rarely available in other gaming zones of Hyderabad.
