Costa Coffee unveils contactless Clever Cup

Costa Coffee has launched the UK’s first reusable contactless coffee cup, powered by Barclaycard’s bPay technology.

The Clever Cup will be available in its stores during November, priced at £14.99, with a £1 donation from every sale going to The Costa Foundation. Users can track their spending, top up their balance, and block or cancel the contactless payment element online or using the dedicated bPay app, available on iPhone and Android devices.

The initiative forms part of Costa Coffee’s re-launch of its ‘next generation’ reusable range, encouraging customers to make the move away from single-use takeaway cups. It has pledged to recycle 500 million of these cups by 2020.

Sold in packaging made from recycled coffee cups, the Clever Cup features a silicon base and contactless chip, which is detachable for ease of washing. The technology within the cup can be used wherever customers see the contactless symbol and not just Costa Coffee stores.

“Contactless technology has become increasingly prominent in our daily lives and through the launch of the new Clever Cup we hope to appeal to those tech-savvy customers to help facilitate and drive environmentally friendly behaviour,” says Jason Cotta, Managing Director at Costa Coffee.

“Whilst we are committed to ensuring more takeaway coffee cups are recovered and recycled we also want to incentivise and reward customers who help reduce the number of takeaway cups being wasted. We already offer a 25p discount on hot drinks in all our stores for customers using reusable cups, and hope the innovative Clever Cup will become an additional incentive for increasing the use of reusable cups."