Min. 100 units · 3–5 days
Paper Cups
Custom Printed Cups
Specify thisCustom Printed Cups
Bespoke white Paper Cup manufactured to order, with material and finish chosen around how the product ships.
No obligation
Name, email, phone and what you are packing and the volumes you run. Attach artwork if you have it. We reply with a specification and a written price, usually within one business day.
White Paper Cup hold beverage service where a plain white cup is wanted, printed or not. That is the starting point for the specification, because white reads clean when new and marked once used. For photography and display it is right; for a long-held drink less so.
In service they are used for catering, offices and any service where cups are stocked plain and used generically.
White Paper Cup are specified for catering, offices and any service where cups are stocked plain and used generically. White reads clean when new and marked once used. For photography and display it is right; for a long-held drink less so.
White cup board with a food-contact lining. The most common and most economical stock.
The options we would consider for this format are below; white reads clean when new and marked once used. For photography and display it is right; for a long-held drink less so.
The best colour reproduction of the cup substrates, because there is no substrate tint to correct for.
Offset lithography, Flexography, Digital press are all available for this format. Run length usually decides which is cheapest: digital removes the plate cost on short quantities, offset and flexo overtake it at volume.
The best colour reproduction of the cup substrates, because there is no substrate tint to correct for.
Each finish below is a separate pass on the press or the finishing line, which is why they are quoted individually rather than bundled.
Full volume range.
Send the contents rather than a box size. White is chosen for a clean look, which is why every mark on it is obvious.
Four things drive a quote more than anything else: the quantity, the print route, the board grade and the number of finishing passes. Dimensions matter too, but usually through how efficiently the shape nests on the press sheet.
Prices start from $0.30 per piece for large-volume orders. If a cheaper route exists we say so at quoting rather than after the invoice.
White shows lipstick, coffee rings and handling marks more visibly than any other finish.
Paperboard also absorbs moisture from the air until it equalises with its surroundings. If stock sits more than about six weeks in unconditioned space, a moisture-resistant coating is worth its small premium.
Cup artwork is built on a fan-shaped dieline. Keep type at least 6 mm from the top rim and bottom curl, and expect slight distortion at the seam.
Supply a print-ready PDF or vector file with fonts outlined and images at 300 dpi. Our prepress team checks every file before a proof is issued. The check that catches most files is type sitting too close to a crease, which is easier to move at layout than at proof.
Send the product dimensions, the quantity and your deadline. What comes back is a board grade, a structure, a print method, a lead time and a written price — not a number on its own.
You approve the quote, we send the dieline, prepress proofs it, and production follows. The proof stage is where changes are still free.
Ask for an unprinted sample if the question is fit, or a printed prototype if the question is colour. They answer different things.
Sample costs are normally credited against the production order.
Reference
| Product | White Paper Cup |
|---|---|
| Category | Custom Printed Cups |
| Construction | Paper cup |
| Lining | PE or PLA liquid barrier |
| Rim | Rolled rim, lid-compatible |
| Wall | Single, double or ripple wall |
| Materials | Single-wall PE-lined paperboard, Double-wall paperboard, PLA-lined compostable board, Ripple-wall board |
| Printing | Offset lithography, Flexography, Digital press |
| Finishes | Matte outer, Gloss outer, Uncoated kraft outer, Soft-touch outer |
| Minimum order | Minimum order is 100 units on any format, and unit cost falls sharply as the quantity rises. |
| Lead time | 3 to 5 business days after artwork approval |
| Shipping | Across the US, UK, Canada and Australia |
Specification builder
Set what you know, leave the rest. Everything here travels with your request, so nothing gets retyped.
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In practice
Full volume range.
White shows lipstick, coffee rings and handling marks more visibly than any other finish.
Specified for catering, offices and any service where cups are stocked plain and used generically.
White reads clean when new and marked once used. For photography and display it is right; for a long-held drink less so.
This format sits in our custom printed cups range, alongside 21 other made-to-order formats.
Answers
Specification, minimums and lead times for white paper cup.
We specify food-contact compliant boards and inks where the pack touches food directly. Tell us whether contact is direct or through a liner for white paper cup, because it changes which stocks are available to you.
A grease-resistant coating or a greaseproof liner. Untreated board will always strike through eventually with hot, oily food — that is a property of the material rather than a quality fault, and it is inexpensive to design out.
The wall construction and the lining differ between the two. A cup specified for hot service will sweat with a cold drink, and a cold cup will not insulate. Tell us which service you need, or both if you want a single stock item.
Prices start from $0.30 per piece for large-volume orders. For this format the biggest levers are quantity, print route, board grade and how many finishing passes are involved. We quote each element separately so you can see where the money is going. Finishing passes are the lever buyers most often underestimate: each one is a separate run through the line.
Yes. We can send a plain unprinted sample so you can check the fit and structure, or a printed prototype for colour and finish. Sample costs are normally credited against the production order. Worth running a few through your actual line rather than checking them by hand: fill speed and hot contents find fit problems that a desk check does not.
Send the current specification or a physical sample and we will quote to match it rather than proposing an alternative you would then have to re-approve internally. Tell us the coating on the pack you are matching too. Grease and moisture resistance are not visible in a sample and they change which stocks we can quote.
All 50 US states, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, on the same timeline everywhere: 3 to 5 business days of production after artwork approval, then 5 to 7 business days in transit. Every run is made to order and shipped directly to your address rather than pulled from stock, so you receive current production rather than whatever has been sitting in a warehouse. Freight is costed separately by weight, volume and destination. This format nests or lies flat, so a large quantity takes up far less freight volume than the finished pack suggests.
Every run is cut to your dimensions — there are no stock sizes here. Send the product measurements rather than a box size and we will build the paper cup around them, then send a dieline template you can design onto.
We issue a dieline template sized to your product, prepress checks your artwork against it, and a proof comes back for sign-off. Nothing runs until you approve that proof, and paper cups then take 3 to 5 business days.
Yes. Once a first run is approved we hold the board, structure, dimensions, print method and finishes against your account, so a reorder references the same specification exactly rather than being re-derived. The board and coating are held together, so a reorder cannot quietly arrive on a stock with different grease resistance.
Recycled grades are available across most of the substrates we run for paper cups. Recycled content, kerbside recyclability and certified compostability are three different claims though, so tell us which one you intend to print.
A print-ready PDF or a vector file, with fonts outlined and any raster images at 300 dpi at final size. We supply the dieline to design onto, and prepress checks bleed, safe area and crease clearance before issuing a proof. The dieline we supply carries the crease positions, so keeping type clear of a crease is easier to solve at layout than at proof.
Related formats
Next step
Send the fill size and the volumes you run. We reply with a full specification and a written price, usually within one business day.