What to Print on a Custom Coffee Cup
Published by Avco Boxes, a custom pizza and bakery box manufacturer in Long Island, New York since 1989.
Most café cups need only three things: your logo, one way for customers to find you again (a social handle, a website or a QR code), and enough contrast to read from across the counter. Put the logo where people will actually see it, keep everything else small and secondary, and use the same artwork on your hot and cold cups so they read as one brand. The rest of this guide covers placement, contrast, what to leave off, and when a printed double wall cup makes more sense than a sleeve.
Where to put your logo on the cup
A cup is round, so nobody sees the whole design at once. Whoever is holding it sees one side, the person across the table sees the other, and a hand covers part of the middle. Plan for that before you think about colours or extras.
One logo, two logos or a wrap
- One logo on the front. The simplest option. It works well when your barista hands every cup over the same way, but the logo can end up facing the customer instead of everyone else.
- Two logos on opposite sides. The most practical choice for most cafés. Your name is visible no matter how the cup is held or set down.
- A repeating pattern or full wrap. A small logo or icon repeated around the cup reads from any angle. It suits brands with a simple mark rather than a long name.
Paper cups also taper toward the base and have a side seam where the paper overlaps. Keep your logo and any small text away from the seam and away from the very top and bottom edges. Your digital proof will show how the design sits on the cup, so use it to check placement before you approve.
Contrast: readable at arm's length
A cup is seen quickly and from a few feet away, so contrast matters more than detail. Dark ink on a white cup is the safest choice. If your brand colour is pale, such as a light pastel or a soft yellow, consider using your darker secondary colour on the cup instead.
Clear plastic cups add a twist: the drink becomes the background. A dark logo stands out on lemonade or a light smoothie but can disappear against iced coffee or cold brew. Think about the drinks you sell most in clear cups and pick an ink colour that reads against them.
Fine lines, thin script fonts and tiny taglines tend to fill in or vanish at cup size. If part of your logo is very delicate, a bolder, simplified version will print more cleanly.
What information belongs on a cup
Every extra line of text makes the logo smaller. Choose the one or two things that help a customer come back or tag you, and leave the rest for your menu board and receipts.
| Element | Include it? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Logo or business name | Always | The largest element on the cup. |
| Social handle | Often | Pick the one account you actually post to. |
| Website | If you take online orders | Keep it short; drop the "https://" and "www." |
| QR code | Only if there is room | Needs enough size and contrast to scan; see below. |
| Phone number | Rarely | Useful for catering or call-ahead orders. Check every digit on the proof. |
| Short tagline | Optional | A few words at most, smaller than the logo. |
QR codes: only when the cup is big enough
A QR code has to be large enough, sharp enough and high-contrast enough for a phone to read it, with a clear margin of blank space around it. On larger cold cups there is usually room. On small hot cups and espresso sizes, a QR code often has to shrink so much that it becomes unreliable, and it crowds out your logo.
If you do print one, point it at a page on your own website that you can update later, such as your menu or loyalty sign-up. The code is printed for good, but the page behind it can change. Scan the code on your proof with a couple of different phones before approving it.
Keep it simple on small cups
Single wall hot cups come in sizes as small as 4 oz, and the print area on a cup that size is limited. For small cups, use your logo mark on its own, without the handle or website. Many cafés use one clean design across every size so the cups look like a family on the counter. Our coffee cup sizes guide explains which sizes most cafés stock.
Match your hot and cold cups
Customers notice when an iced latte and a hot latte from the same café look like they came from two different shops. Use the same logo, the same ink colour and roughly the same placement across all your cups. Keep in mind that a design on a clear cup will look different from the same design on white paper, because the drink shows through behind it.
Here are the cup lines we print, with case counts and minimums:
| Cup | Sizes | Per case | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single wall paper hot cups | 4–20 oz | 700 | 3 cases |
| Double wall paper hot cups | 8–20 oz | 260 | 5 cases |
| Paper cold cups | 12–22 oz | 700 | 3 cases |
| Clear plastic cold cups | 12, 16, 20, 24 and 32 oz | 240–300 | 5 cases |
For a side-by-side look at the materials, see our guide to types of cups, or browse custom hot paper cups and custom clear cups.
Sleeves or printed double wall cups?
A single wall cup filled with a hot drink often needs a sleeve so it is comfortable to hold. The catch is that a sleeve wraps around the middle of the cup, which is exactly where most logos sit. If you plan to use plain sleeves on single wall cups, place your logo high enough that the sleeve will not cover it.
A double wall cup has an outer paper layer that adds insulation, so most drinks can go out without a sleeve and your whole printed design stays visible. The trade-off is fewer cups per case and a higher case minimum, as the table above shows. Many cafés use single wall cups for small sizes and quick drinks and double wall for larger hot drinks.
Before you order
- Lids are sold separately. We carry dome lids, lock-back flat lids, 4 oz espresso lids and cold cup lids. See hot cup lids to match them to your cup sizes.
- Artwork setup. There is a $75 one-time artwork setup per order.
- Free digital proof. You will see your design on the cup before anything is printed. Read every word, check every number and scan any QR code. Approved artwork is final, as explained in our refund policy.
- Timing. Production takes 7–10 business days after you approve the proof, and every cup is made in the USA.
Ready to put your logo on a cup? Browse our custom cups or the coffee shop and café collection, and we will send you a free proof before anything goes to print.