Is coffee IV-“drip”?
Popular New York City coffee chain 787 Coffee has sparked customer debate after swapping cups for viral plastic bags that are being compared to juice bags or medical bags.
“It feels kind of nostalgic…like a Capri sun,” Dustin, 33, a defense contractor who works in New York, told the Post.
The bean bags first went viral on TikTok, racking up hundreds of thousands of views across multiple videos, and the rise of social media has unsurprisingly caused sales of the bags to rise.
“It went viral,” West 46th Street post manager Simon Gondola, 32, told The Post. “TikTok is the place where everything is seen by the public. We are like the only coffee that comes in bags.”
Any drink for two—cappuccino and flat white—can be packed into the 787, where coffees range in price from $6 to $12.
And the container isn’t an Internet hoax, according to co-founder Brandon Peña, who explained that the bendable plastic containers, which tip over traditional plastic to-go cups, align with 787’s mission to “do what’s right for ours. community and planet.”
While a sustainable single-use plastic bag may seem like a paradox, these joe bags “disintegrate faster than hard plastic, reducing their environmental impact,” Peña told Gothamist. “They are reusable, which allows customers to reuse in creative ways.”
A growing number of restaurants have swapped classic plastic cups and plastic straws for more environmentally friendly options. Starbucks notably ditched plastic straws for single-hole lids in 2020, while many other restaurants have also made the sustainable change — though 787 plastic bags come with plastic straws.
Dustin, who bought a rum-infused cooler, told The Post that he could definitely envision using it instead of the traditional container, though it reminded him of “baggy milk in elementary school.”
As for the taste, he described it as “really good” with “a thick, bold flavor.”
Meanwhile, Tennessee tourists Jordan, 34, and Holly, 33, who had this real caffeine IV at several locations around town, said the contents are so “delicious” that the packaging didn’t matter.
“People love it,” barista Deishaliz Parrilla, 23, told Post 787. “You get 16 ounces of coffee.”
Others have been more “bitter” about receiving java in the sack, which has been compared to a “colostomy bag” by Gothamist.
On Friday, The Post reported that a woman accidentally grabbed the bag too tightly and caused the contents to spill out, prompting her to ask for her cold drink to be transferred to two different glasses.
For this reason, Parilla warns customers to refrain from “grabbing” the container from the bottom.
Despite their insufferable nature, bagged drinks are ubiquitous in other countries; hop vendors in Qing Dao, China famously serve Tsing Tao beer in plastic bags.
The Puerto Rican Bean Depot has 27 outlets spread across Texas, Puerto Rico – where the beans are located – and NYC, where it first opened in 2019. Since then, the 787 – named after the island nation’s area code – has attracted customers with unique Farm-to-Cup Experiences, commitment to sustainability and Caribbean-influenced flavors, including dulce de leche and a cold brew made from rum-infused beans as a satisfying drunk dessert.
The coffee chain was named one of America’s fastest-growing private companies in 2021 and a top growth accelerator for 2024 by the US Chamber of Commerce.
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Image Source : nypost.com