Cool idea, but it seems to target a pretty narrow demographic:<p><pre><code> - wealthy enough to live in NYC and buy at least
one cup of coffee every single work day
- cheap enough to want to save a few bucks a month on coffee
- can't be bothered to carry a credit card around every day
- can be bothered to carry a smart phone around every day
- trendy enough to frequent NYC coffee shops
- untrendy enough to be seen using "coupons" in public
- techy enough to consider installing a coffee buying app
- non-techy enough to not have built a crazy $10k
coffee roasting-grinding-brewing setup at home
</code></pre>
Fortunately for them, starting in NYC, that still leaves around thirty million potential customers.<p>It'll be fun watching this play out.
I'm a huge espresso lover - made sure to have an espresso machine everywhere I spend more than a few hours (office x 2, apartment x 2) and I still find myself buying coffee when I'm outside.<p>I've used them while in Israel (and I know one of the founders), I only have good stuff to say about them.<p>There are 2 benefits from using it, obviously the first one is the huge cost saving but the second is the fact you can drink at several places and you get to discover some good places.<p>When you pay for your espresso sometimes you tend to stick with the place you know have good espresso, however with CUPS I get to visit new places from time to time (mostly when I see on the app that a nearby cafe is a member) and I get to experiment with new blends.<p>Also I found that some places have amazing savings for members - some places will give you drinks and other things at a discount and usually will welcome you as a regular (meaning you get a better service).<p>I hope they spread everywhere and make this an international membership meaning if I visit NYC I can use my app from Israel.
As someone who works out of coffee shops a lot, there is pretty much ZERO appeal for me to use this kind of service, since I view my coffee costs as "rent" and prefer to pay full price plus a tip to be viewed as a good customer.<p>Bringing in an app saying "I'm a cheapskate that doesn't want to pay full price" is not the message I want to give to coffee shop staff.
Significant savings for some.<p>If you had a 2 cups a day coffee habit, this works out to about $.73 a cup or $1.45 a day. Pretty good deal if you like coffee shop coffee.<p>Assuming you'll otherwise spend $3 per cup you'll save about $1657 a year. $2190 vs $532.90.
$45 per month? I get free coffee at work.<p>Well, I do now, they only recently changed the coffee machines to ones that produce drinkable coffee. Before that I'd spend money to get decent coffee, probably far more than this service is offering. Starbucks etc in this country charge much more for regular coffee, probably due to a much lower volume / amount sold.
If you're in NYC and want a good cup of coffee, check out one of these places:<p>Third Rail (got me through my first semester at NYU)<p>Stumptown (I'm usually at the 8th St. spot but the Ace Hotel location is just as good)<p>Joe<p>Cafe Grumpy<p>Everyman Espresso<p>9th Street Espresso @ Chelsea Market<p>Note that none of these has signed up with CUPS. I doubt any of them will, either, since (I bet) there are thin margins in selling excellent coffee.
This will only exacerbate an existing problem at coffee shops in NYC: The "Coffice" phenomenon where people use the coffee shop as their office.<p>Now these people will feel justified basically becoming a tenant of coffee shops and leeching 4-5 coffees a day, leaving this startup with the empty CUPS. :)
Interesting. At least one coffee shop in NYC has already done this on their own, for only $25/mo (but it's only one location):<p><a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/fair-folks-and-a-goat-new-york-2" rel="nofollow">http://www.yelp.com/biz/fair-folks-and-a-goat-new-york-2</a>
When I used to live in Norway you could buy a coffee cup (an actual cup) from Statoil (petrol station) and you could drink free coffee with that cup forever (in Statoil stations of course). That was 7 years ago though, so it could have changed by now.
I've never though about it, but what Americans call "regular coffee" in my country is called "American coffee". When I ask for a "coffee" I probably get a latte or in Spanish "café con leche".
That 30 minute limit would be the dealbreaker for me. I often drink one cup just to get caffeine in, then immediately start another for either flavor or more caffeine or to have something to do.
As soon as the support more coffee shops in midtown i'm buying in.<p>The map they have of the indy coffee shops is something that does seem pretty useful. At least to me.
Are margins on coffee good enough to support this long term? High end coffee is quite expensive as is square footage in small trendy coffee shops.<p>I suppose the odd abuser who parks their butt for 3-4 hrs a day in the coffee shop can be dealt with in other ways e.g. they must order food to keep a seat. If they are forced to walk to the coffee shop each time they will likely max out at a few coffees a day.
I used this service while I was in Israel, and it's really amazing. CUPS pays the coffeeshops for each cup you consume, so the shops treat you like a real customer, not like a "groupon" customer. Honestly the biggest benefit is the spontaneity of it all "should I get coffee? eh fuck it why not."
$45 is not for the usual Starbucks Double Grande White Chocolate Mocha with soy milk and two shots of vanilla flavoring, that would be $85. With at around a 8% discount (rewards) and a price of $4 per drink it comes out to around 23 drinks. Or 1+ per weekday for the same amount.<p>Not the greatest deal for those users I guess.
This is great. I wish I could get this in the suburbs, with Tim Hortons on delivery.<p>Recently I purchased a Keurig k-cup brewer. The machine wouldn't always pump out water, so thinking I was screwed I ordered another Keurig brewer, this time the Vue. $150 for the first Keurig, $100for the second. In the meantime I purchased bullet proof coffee to give it a shot, thats an extra $45. So, in a matter of 1 week I spent about $300 on just getting my home coffee situation together. And I still go to Tim Hortons on my way home from purchasing coffee at the grocery store, or if I am out.<p>FWIW, I called Keurig thinking they wouldn't do anything and they sent me a brand new k-cup brewing machine that is in a box right next to me. But I do love my K-Vue machine, its the best single cup @home experience I have been able to find and I probably drink about $45 worth of coffee out of it each day.
For $0 a month you can drink water from the tap. It's healthy and doesn't require installing an app.<p>(Psst. You should be finding ways to balance your diet, not contribute to its destruction.)
I wonder how they disperse the money to the various shops.<p>Edit:
From the website "We pay you for each drink purchased at your awesome coffee shop "
I am not a coffee drinker but this is what I do when I crave for one:<p>Two cups of water in a blender. Add a teaspoon of instant coffee, a teaspoon of sugar, two spoons of powdered milk. Mix it all for ten seconds.<p>Pour in two cups. Put in the microwave for a minute.<p>Enjoy a delicious capuccino with a partner.
Wait, before you all drink up, check out the CAFFEINATED documentary (the actual documentary starts at 4:19). Ever wonder why Barack Obama doesn't drink coffee?<p>Pt. 1: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OecTZBjFvw#t=259" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OecTZBjFvw#t=259</a><p>Pt. 2: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qncmE7O7wg4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qncmE7O7wg4</a>