When we first started sharing the A-Cup with event teams, brewers and race organisers across the Netherlands, we made them a simple promise. Choose a plastic-free cup, and you should not have to worry about it giving up halfway through the day.

That promise had to be tested. So we took the A-Cup out of the office and into the places where paper cups usually struggle. Whisky bars. Marathon hydration points. Youth football tournaments.

50,000+ cups supplied & tested — strong, steady and leak-free, cup after cup

Eight Places the A-Cup Has Proven Itself

  1. De Monnik Dranken — High-Proof Spirits. Alcohol is one of the toughest tests you can give a paper cup. It softens linings, warps walls and finds every weak spot. What happened: Handled whisky at 61% alcohol without warping, softening or leaking.
  2. Bijlmer Run — Mass Hydration. Runners grabbing cups on the move across 5 km, 10 km and 21 km courses, with volunteers pouring at speed. What happened: Fast, reliable service for thousands of runners, no collapsing under tight grips.
  3. Next Gen Amsterdam — Multi-Sport Festival. Six hydration stations at the Olympic Stadium, serving young athletes and visitors from morning to evening. What happened: Steady performance across long hours and both hot and cold drinks.
  4. KLM Open — Tournament Catering. With our partner CrewFood BV, the A-Cup and paper cutlery went behind the scenes to volunteers, crews, players and staff. It even held its own with hot soup, not just cold drinks. What happened: Kept back-of-house catering running cleanly at one of the country's biggest golf weeks.
  5. Nürburgring Classic — Motorsport Hospitality. Working with Handwerk Racing at one of Europe's most demanding motorsport venues. Outdoors, non-stop, all weather. What happened: Held up in the pit-and-paddock rhythm, weather and all.
  6. Jonger Oranje — Youth Football. Talent days for young footballers aged 8 to 18, all around the Netherlands. Small hands and busy tables included. What happened: Worked so well it grew into a season-long partnership.
  7. ADE — Music Festival. One of the world's biggest electronic music events. Tens of thousands of dancers, long nights and non-stop bar service across the city. What happened: Held up through the crowd, the heat and the pace of a full ADE weekend.
  8. Formula 1 — Hospitality. A full race weekend at Zandvoort, serving athletes, staff and VIP hospitality areas across the paddock and grandstands. What happened: Kept up with the pace of a Formula 1 crowd, from morning briefings to the podium celebrations.

The A-Cup Standard

Before an A-Cup goes anywhere near an event, it has to meet the standard we set for ourselves. Hold alcoholic drinks up to 45% Vol for one full hour, with:

  • No deformation
  • No wrinkling
  • No leakage
  • No separation
  • Full strength and stiffness kept from first pour to last sip

The De Monnik Dranken result at 61% shows the cup happily working well above that line. It also handles hot drinks up to 85°C, so one A-Cup covers coffee, tea and soup as easily as beer, wine or champagne.

Tested Every Day, at Three Levels

The 50,000+ cups out in the field are only part of the story. Every A-Cup we make is checked long before it reaches an event.

  • In the factory: 1,000 cups tested from every production lot, every day.
  • In our own labs: all four Hello Straw offices run weekly tests across a full range of alcoholic drinks.
  • In an accredited external lab: independent third-party reports, with official documentation available on request.

Planning an event, a race, a festival or a backstage set-up? One cup. Every occasion. And because every event tells its own story, we can customise the A-Cup with your branding, colours or message. Get in touch with us.