Across the United States, cafes are serving jumbo-size coffee drinks in plastic buckets. The gimmick is working.
Once used to hold paint, mop water or haul home a fresh catch of fish, buckets are increasingly being used for something else entirely. Equipped with straws, the vessels, for some, are replacing the standard to-go cups used for iced coffee and lattes. And they are racking up views on TikTok along the way.
“I drove an hour to a shop because I was like, ‘This is going to be trendy,’” said Tiffany Guckin, 37, a director of operations at a research firm and a food content creator based in Guilford, Conn. “I think millennial moms in particular are looking for something to jazz up their days.”
The only downside? Cup holders. “It does fit in your glove compartment, if you open it,” she added.
Ms. Guckin is among a growing number of coffee lovers who have decided that a simple 12-ounce drink will not cut it anymore. Some have repurposed Weck jars or old pasta sauce containers. But a handful of cafes are leaning into the absurdity by serving iced coffees and lattes in 34-ounce buckets, often with handles. The trend is drawing a crowd.
Dulce Vida, a Mexican-inspired cafe in Tulsa, Okla., debuted “La Cubeta,” its 34-ounce version of a latte, last month after the trend gained traction on social media. Tiffany Rodriguez, the cafe’s founder, quickly embraced it as a way to differentiate from corporate giants like Starbucks and Dunkin’.
“We like to bring new ideas that you can’t find at other coffee shops,” she said. “So when I saw the bucket trend, it definitely, you know, fit into our overall goal and aesthetic for the shop.”
