This isn’t exactly specialty coffee related, but I think it still brings value to Coffee Brew Guides, especially for those of you who often drink from paper cups. I present to you, the Ink N Drink marker!
I was very graciously given one of these as a gift and decided it would be fun to try it out on a couple of different materials. I used a glass, a ceramic mug, a plastic cup, and a paper cup.
I shook the marker as is instructed and wrote “Drink Me” on each cup. Then I boiled some water and poured it in.
The glass accepted the ink, but didn’t show it well throughout the entire process. I deem the Ink N Drink marker ineffective for glass cups of any kind. The ceramic mug did better, but was still limited. The ink showed up, but not extremely well. Still, the marker is useful here.
The real winners were the plastic and paper cups. The Ink N Drink was primarily created for paper cups, so naturally it worked there flawlessly. The plastic cup turned out very well, but was not as easy to write on and I had to use multiple layers. But really that’s not a big problem.
By the time the ink revealed itself again on each cup, the contents were ready to be consumed without any tongue burning – the water was the perfect temperature. If you frequently drink coffee (or hot drinks at all) in paper cups, having an Ink N Drink marker would be very practical.
Check out the difference between scalding and drinkable:
A Short Interview
I decided it would be interesting to ask Jimmy, the creator of Ink N Drink, a couple of questions about his adventures as an entrepreneur.
Who are you and what caused you to become an entrepreneur?
My name is Jimmy, I’m 24 and a resident of Los Angeles, CA. I currently work for a fashion company called J Brand while doing Ink N Drink on the side. It’s been tough doing both in tandem but I’m very fortunate that the CEO of J Brand not only approves of the project but is my mentor on it as well- speaks volumes of him and J Brand.
How I became an entrepreneur is not very sexy. Two years ago I got really interested in the concept of “denting the world” and the visionaries who did (Musk, Buffett, etc) all talk about just “making it happen”. Acting on ideas and opportunities. Those were the people I looked up to and still do and I went for it.
Ink N Drink came out of a personal pain point. I was drinking coffee and burned my tongue and thought to myself, if the name on this cup could change color to visually show me what’s going on in there, it’s a lot more efficient than sipping, touching and guessing. After a few iterations (and I had some really monstrosities of prototypes), I made an Ink N Drink marker I was proud of.
Focus groups had me change some features like temperature but I also learned a lot. People found other uses. Some who like it hot used it to drink faster if the ink changed colors; others found it was a great way to microwave a drink back to hot instead of guessing. There was even a proposition of using this on ramen noodles. This made it applicable to ALL hot liquid consumers.
Of course I do! I love my job at J Brand because the company is really passionate about using clothes as a vehicle to make people feel and look great; this allows me to know, everyday, that I’m doing something that matters.
In regards to Ink N Drink, I will eventually pivot. People have actually reached out to me asking for markers created specifically for baby bottles. It seems like a bigger market and a better B2C opportunity. The good thing is I’m young, pro-risk and love making it happen. We’ll see what’s next. 🙂
That’s all folks! If you’re a paper-cup-drinker than I highly encourage you to look into Ink N Drink. If not, just silently admire.
0 Comments