Every paper cup term, explained

These are the words you'll meet on a supplier's product page or an order form, explained in the way a colleague would explain them across a counter. Each one is defined by what it does, not by what it isn't, because that's what actually helps you choose between two cups that look almost identical.

Cup walls and how they keep drinks warm

• Single wall cup: one layer of paperboard between the drink and your hand. Lighter and usually cheaper, but on a hot drink the outside can get hot enough that most people reach for a sleeve.
• Double wall cup: two layers of paper with a small air gap between them. That gap works rather like double glazing, keeping the outside cool enough to hold without a sleeve.
• Ripple cup: a single wall cup with a corrugated paper wrap bonded around the outside. The ridges trap a layer of air that insulates your hand in the same way a double wall cup does, without the second full layer of board.
• Ripple sleeve: a separate band that's slid onto a plain single wall cup.
• Sleeve (coffee sleeve): a separate strip of card fitted around a single wall cup to protect the hand from heat. Some venues prefer it because the sleeve carries the printed design.

Sizes, board and print

• Oz / ml: cup capacity, usually given in fluid ounces (oz) and often alongside millilitres, for example 12oz / 340ml. UK suppliers list sizes both ways, and a rounded conversion can shift the true volume slightly, so it's worth checking both figures when comparing cups from different suppliers.
• Board weight (GSM): the thickness of the paperboard the cup is made from, measured in grams per square metre. A heavier board feels sturdier and resists collapsing under a hot drink, which is why hot cups tend to use a heavier board than cold cups do.
• Hot cup: a cup built to hold a hot drink without the outside becoming too hot to hold comfortably. Whether it needs a sleeve depends on whether it's single wall, double wall or ripple.
• Cold cup: a cup designed for iced drinks and cold water. It doesn't need the same board weight or wall structure as a hot cup, since there's no heat to insulate against, though it still needs to stand up to condensation.
• Custom print / branded cup: a cup printed with a design or logo. Suppliers usually set a minimum order quantity for print work, because the setup cost of a print run is the same whether it covers five hundred cups or five thousand.
• Minimum order quantity (MOQ): the smallest number of cups a supplier will sell in one order. It matters most for custom print, where a small event needing only a few hundred cups may find plain stock cups more practical than a printed run.

Lids

• Flat lid: sits level across the rim of the cup, usually on cold cups, often with a straw hole punched into it.
• Dome lid: rises above the rim, giving room for whipped cream or a vent, and is seen more often on hot drinks.
• Sip-through lid: has a small opening moulded into it so the drink can be sipped without taking the lid off, the shape most people recognise from takeaway coffee.
• Vented lid: has a small hole or punched slit that lets steam escape from a hot drink, so the lid doesn't bulge or leak.

Lid compatibility comes down to the rim diameter of the cup.

Materials and environmental claims

• Compostable: a cup or lining that breaks down under specific composting conditions, usually an industrial facility. What the word covers varies from one supplier to the next, so it's worth checking their own page for the standard they're claiming against.
• Biodegradable: material that breaks down naturally over time, though the timescale and conditions aren't fixed by the word itself. It's a broader claim than compostable and one worth reading the supplier's own wording on before it shapes a buying decision.
• PLA lining: a plant-based lining used in place of the plastic film that lines most standard paper cups, fitted specifically so the cup can be compostable under the right conditions.
• Recyclable: able to go through standard recycling streams, which for paper cups depends heavily on the lining used and on whether local facilities accept them.

Some listings in the directory are built around this end of the market. Packaging Environmental is one such supplier, with a page setting out which materials and claims apply to which of their products.

You can see these terms in action on individual supplier pages too, like Apprintable, where cup type, lid and print options are set out against real products.

For the fuller explanation of how these terms connect to an actual buying decision, see the cup types and sizes guide. To see which suppliers stock a given cup, lid or material, the supplier directory is the next place to look, organised by supplier.