After months of extensive use, we’re ready to bring you an Honest Review of everyone’s favourite reusable coffee cup.

[Looking for the Fressko Cups? Click Here! Fressko Sleeves click Here!]

 

The Made by Fressko Reusable Coffee Cups aren’t everyone’s favourite takeaway cups for no reason. For starters, the team at Fressko is determined to provide products of impeccable quality, and they seem to take utmost care in maintaining that quality consistency. Next, I mean, just look at those cups. Aren’t they just beautiful?

I own a Khaki Camino and I’ve used my cup extensively for almost 5 months now. I also own reusable cups from almost every other major player in this industry: KeepCup (both original plastic and glass Brew cups), Sttoke ceramic indestructible cups, HuskeeCups upcycled from coffee husk waste. So by no means are any of the cups bad.

That said, here’s my review of the Camino, Made by Fressko.

At a Glance

If you want a quick & dirty, you can stop after the TL:DR (too long; don’t read). The pros and cons are usually compelling enough. However, I encourage you to read on to know more about the cup that you’ll be using - you’ll be surprised how much information you can’t get from elsewhere.

TL;DR Pros and Cons

+ Vacuum-sealed

+ Leakproof when done right (easily done right!)

+ Aesthetics

+ Internal barista lines

+ Beautiful accessory to complement its leakproof quality

﹘Cleaning the lid can take a while

﹘No glass variant

Look & Feel

These cups look amazing. There’s nothing much to contest there. But let’s start by taking a step back. It’s a well-thought design - nothing unnecessary, no frills. Just a cup that widens slightly as it reaches the mouth.

 

Lid

The lid is made from food grade Polypropylene (PP). It narrows off slightly at the top. Coupled with the raised spout, there’s a nice rounded ledge to rest your lower lip on when you want to pour the cup’s contents into your mouth. Otherwise, the raised spout itself fits nicely enough on your lips. There’s a convenient flip cover for the spout that does a splendid job of sealing the opening, which snaps lightly backinto the lid when you don’t need it.

The lid is a screw-on attachment. The threads are interesting here, consisting of a spiral that goes 1 and ⅓ around the outside and a single unbroken loop above it that seems to be a stopper of some sort.

Body

The body of the cup is made from food grade 304 Stainless Steel. To the touch, the exterior of the cup has a pleasant grainy texture. This is not too rough to make it uncomfortable, yet rough enough to provide you a great luxe grip. To top it off, the Fressko logo is laser-engraved on the cup, revealing a shiny silver texture contrast that looks and feels great and isn’t too striking.

Inside, the wall is a smooth one all along the circumference, with a slightly different - difficult to describe - texture at the circular base. I’ve no issues with this. While I don’t understand what the difference in texture at the bottom is for, I appreciate how the liquid easily slides down along the smooth wall.

The cup is vacuum-sealed. I must say Fressko has done an amazing job with this. Many vacuum-sealed products end up with thick walls; one, due to the double wall and two, due to the space between the walls, but this doesn’t feel at all like it even has two walls. Just look at how thin the wall of the cup is! When you first look at it, it might be a little difficult to believe, but we’ll get to that shortly in the next section.

One small note: the cup has an anti-slip padding at the bottom. This is nothing new; cups like the Sttoke have it as well. It’s a nice feature to have and it makes putting the cup on a surface that much more pleasant.

For more information about the materials used in Made by Fressko’s products, click here.

Internal Markings

Internal measurement lines mark the top half of the cup at 2oz intervals, from 6oz to 12oz. These markings are not printed but embossed on the inner wall, so you never have to worry about washing them off. If you’re wondering how accurate they are, they are. I’ve actually tested this by pouring 6oz of water in, followed by increments of 2oz. They’re good. And if you look closely, you can see that there’s a very slight but visible spacing difference between 6-8oz and 8-10oz etc., likely attributed to how the cup widens near the top.

Here’s one thing I appreciate about the cup’s closure - the thread. Present in all screw-closure containers, the thread can sometimes be a real pain to clean. But the thread on the Camino isn't. It only goes slightly longer than one full loop around the rim, which means that only about 4cm of overlapping thread could (potentially) be a problem when washing. They’re also more rounded than angular protrusions - compared to the ones on the lid - and I confess I do love to run my fingers along them.

Usage

Leak-proof? No way...

Way! While a rather small number of customers have since mentioned that their cups don’t keep it in, there are two common reasons for this in my experience.

1. Manufacturing problems. For some reason maybe the lids weren’t made right, or the spout cover doesn’t stay in place. Given the exceptional workmanship in the cups I’ve seen so far (I look a lot at those I see on shelves outside and in our store), the chances are slim for this to happen. But there will definitely be some subpar pieces that still find their way to shelves, no matter how strict the QC is. For this though, you’ll get a replacement cup without question. So this isn’t a problem.

2. Not doing it right. Earlier in my pros & cons section,  I mentioned this. How do you do it right? I’ll do my best to explain how I do it, because it’s worked for me so far.

First of all, ensure the rubber O-ring on the underside of the lid is placed correctly. It’s easy to know when it’s not correctly placed - it’s conveniently made in a way that it only fits in the groove one way.

Next, when you screw on the lid, keep the spout open. Fressko recommends this for hot drinks, to prevent pressure build-up by allowing steam to escape. In the same vein, it’s good practice to do this even if your drink is cold. When screwing the lid on, my indication that the lid is tight enough is when the spout is in line with the Fressko logo on the cup. (Refer to the image above)

With some liquid inside, the lid may not always start feeling tight at the same point. If it starts feeling tighter before the logo, let it sit for a few seconds, then tighten it again. It will always be able to get to the point in the image above - sometimes even further but that’s not necessary. You can now plug the spout with the flip lid. Push the cover down firmly on the spout. You should feel a light tactile click when it’s in place.

This should do the trick! If your cup still leaks, let us know.

On this note, I’d like to point out that the cup pours liquid out really well. It doesn’t leak down the sides when I pour water out from it. Leak-proof indeed!

Internal Barista Lines

This is a simple quality of life addition to the cup. It’s mostly used by baristas so they don’t make you an 8oz Joe when you ask for a 7oz - trust me, this happens a lot and you wouldn’t want your coffee to be diluted more than it should be. It’s a handy indication for bigger chains like Starbucks too, when they have different sized cups for their different sizes. You can order a Tall or Grande in the same cup and the barista will have a sense of how much to pour.

Again, they’re definitely accurate to the milliliter. I’ve tested it and you can too! (2oz = 59.15ml) Yes I did that for SCIENCE!

Vacuum Sealing

Earlier when I mentioned the build of the cup, I said that you might find it difficult to believe at first. However, once you’ve used it the first time you’ll know for sure the vacuum layer is there. I once bought an Iced White at 10am in the morning. I finished the drink shortly with cubes of ice still remaining in the cup. Guess what? At 3pm, the ice cubes were still rattling around in my cup, albeit smaller in size and swimming in their new form! Everyone is talking about the heat retention capabilities of the cup in the reviews, so I can only attribute it to amazing craftsmanship.

It’s there, all right. And while on paper it’s said they’ll keep hot for 3 hours and cold for longer, realistically speaking, your morning coffee on the way to the office will still be hot if you don’t finish it by lunchtime - as long as the lid is screwed on right and the spout is plugged.

One more thing I like is that the cup is cool to the touch all the time. I put this under the vacuum sealing because I think it’s due to the vacuum layer that the heat from inside doesn’t get out. The textured steel is often cooler than the lid when I have a hot drink inside!

Post-use

Washing the Cup

Washing the cup was much easier than I had initially expected. The few areas that I had expected some difficulty in cleaning were: 1. the thread on the cup; 2. the thread on the lid; 3. the little nooks and crannies of the lid including the spout; 4. the rubber O-ring and the groove it sits in.

With a small straw brush - you know, the one that comes with almost any stainless steel straw purchase out there? Yeah that one - and a medium-long nail (or a fork, ew..), none of those were any problem at all!

The threads on the cup are easily cleaned with your normal dishwashing sponge. They’re not too deep or angular to require you scraping deposits off the corners. Milk coffee drinkers worry not! The threads on the lid can just as simply be washed with the straw brush. Until today, the threads on my lid still look (and smell) new. No coffee marks or smells.

The O-ring is surprisingly easy to remove. My only dread when I first tried removing the O-ring was that it’ll be as difficult/tight as the Sttoke’s, but it isn’t. It fits perfectly in it’s groove yet isn’t stuck on too tightly. Stick a tooth of your fork between the ring and lid, and that’s all there is to it!

Brush the groove with some warm water and soap and let dry; you can soak the O-ring if you want, but I find that a good sponge-down is more than enough. I don’t even think the coffee makes it that far up the thread to make contact with the rubber ring - I never notice any coffee dried around the ring.

Brush down every other corner of the lid with the straw brush. It’s really all you need. And the cup is even more straightforward - it’s wide enough for your whole hand to go in with a sponge for an easy wash.

NOTE:Do not put the cup in the dishwasher or the freezer. The vacuum seal will be ruined.

Storing the Cup

Once the components of the cup are dry, I put everything back together and store it on my open shelf with the spout lid loosely on. As long as you’re not storing it in extreme conditions like the freezer or oven, pretty much anywhere in your home will be a good place to store your Fressko.

About those Cons

Yeah about those. The lid can take a while to clean well, but I clean my lid regularly and have had no issues so far. Okay I confess, I cheat a little: sometimes I drink my coffee without my lid on for preservation sake. It’s an equally satisfying experience for me. Just know that some things are inevitable. We can only delay them. 5 months of constant use should be a good gauge of how well the cup preserves itself, though!

Also, it might just be my consumer mindset talking, but I wish the cup had a clear glass option, like the KeepCup Brew. I have that and I really love the look of the cup, especially with the cork. Glass just has a way of making things look more… high SES*.. Talk about glass though, have you seen Fressko’s Glass Infuser Flask? It’s truly a functional work of art.

One last minor gripe I have with my Camino, is that the cup squeaks rather horribly sometimes when I screw the lid on. Especially near the tightest part. Doesn’t happen all the time, and happens mostly when I forget to leave the spout open while screwing the lid on. But it happens.

That’s about all my cons for this product. I haven’t heard much in the way of cons yet but I’d love to hear any from those of you who have quips with the cup! We believe that everyone should know both sides of the spectrum (although sometimes it really is that good).

Final Note

Some of our friends around Singapore have started stocking the Camino and it’s younger variant, the 8oz Bino (yay!) If you have any questions about the Fressko cups, drop us a message anywhere on our socials or Whatsapp and we’ll be happy to have a chat with you!

We hope this edition of Honest Reviews have been helpful to you!

(SES: Socioeconomic Status - used commonly as a term in Singapore to classify items using class separation; “Five Guys is like high SES MacDonalds.”)