
This is kind of embarrassing.
Recently, I was contacted by someone at The Friendly Cup, who claim to sell eco-friendly travel mugs and related products. Since their products looked nice, and they also offered me a discount, I decided to order two cups to try: Friendly Travel Mug (blue) and Friendly Thermos Cup (white).

I was naïve. It was a rip off.
This is what they say on their website:
The Friendly Cup is an eco-friendly wheat straw plastic that does not give off that nasty plastic sent or taste [sic!]. It is 100% biodegradable. Not only is this healthy for our environment, but it is also keeps the temperature hotter or colder for a longer period of time compared to regular plastic. The Friendly Cup allows you to drink your favorite coffee or tea in an eco-friendly cup while making the world a better place!
As someone who reads and writes for a living, I should have noticed that everything was not right. I didn’t. I was stupid.

I received the products separately from unknown Chinese addresses. There was no real packaging, just a funny, cheap plastic bag.
This is what the products were like:
- the overall appearance was cheap
- the drinking experience was unpleasant (Travel Mug: difficult to drink without getting air in the mouth; Thermos Cup: the threaded edge was not designed for drinking)
- the biggest problem: neither one was watertight (I spilled coffee all over my desk)
- in the dishwasher, the Travel Mug collected water between its two layers (ergo, no vacuum!)
- the prices ($ 34.99 for each) were ridiculous for the quality
Ikea has better quality for 5 bucks.

The lesson:
Don’t do what I did. Instead,
1) be careful with whom you trust online, and
2) (if I may suggest) stay away from this company.
I was just contacted by this company and it looked phony to me. Thank you for posting about it and saving me time, money, and embarrassment. I’m sorry you had to endure their scam!
TykkääTykkää
Hi! Thanks for the comment! I hope you’ll find more trustworthy companies to work with! 🙂
TykkääTykkää
I’m surprised at how many people are still ”endorsing” this on Instagram — anything for the prestige of being an ”influencer” I guess 😦
I made a quick vid ”debunking” this here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbTyCi8ZAfE
TykkääTykkää
Thanks for the comment! Very good! 👏👏👍🏻 In my opinion, even the 2 bucks would be too much for such low quality products!
TykkääTykkää