How to Print on Paper Cups?

Serve liquid as a container is the most basic use for a paper cup, it's usually used for coffee, tea and other beverages. There are three common types of disposable paper cups: the sing-wall cup, the double-wall cup and the ripple-wall cup. The difference between them is not only the looks but also the application. Most cafes or restaurants serve cold drinks in single-wall cups, and the double-wall or ripple-wall cups are used for hot beverages due to their structures that can provide heat protection and insulation. Meanwhile, paper cups can be seen as a new advertisement medium. You may need custom-printed paper cups so that you can display your logo and company information to other people while using these cups, that's a good way to help people be aware of your brand and your product. So how to print on paper cups? What are the common print methods and what should we use?

1. Offset Printing

Offset printing is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the image and text are transferred to the substrate through the blanket cylinder. Full bright color and high definition are the two most significant advantages to offset printing, it allows the paper cup looks more beautiful and delicate no matter if there are gradient colors or small tiny lines on the cups.

2. Screen Printing

Screen printing has great flexibility and applicability for its soft mesh. It can not only be used in paper and cloth but also is popular in glass and porcelain printing and no need to worry about substrate shapes and sizes. However, when talking about printing on paper cups, screen printing is obviously limited by the gradient color and image accuracy.

3. Flexo Printing

Flexo printing is also called “green painting” because of the water base ink it used, also it has become a trending method in many companies. Compared to the huge body of the offset printing machines, we can say the flexo printing machine is “thin and tiny”. In terms of cost, the investment in a flexo printing machine can be saved by 30%-40%, that’s one of the most important reasons for attracting small businesses. The printing quality of paper cups depends largely on the pre-press production, although the color display of flexo printing is slightly inferior to offset printing, it is still the main process used in paper cup printing at present

4. Digital Printing

Digital printing is based on digital tech to produce high-quality printed matter. Unlike traditional methods, it doesn’t need any blanket cylinders or meshes, which makes it an efficient choice for businesses and individuals who need prints in a quick time. The only downside is that it is slightly more expensive compared to other prints.

Correspondingly, there are many color systems used in the printing industry. We usually use CMYK to print paper products, but Pantone color is also very common.

CMYK:

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key, you can just simply regard them as blue, red, yellow and black. When you use CMYK in graphic design you will indicate a value to every single color and the printing machine will mix these precise values to become the final color printed on the substrate - that’s why it is also known as a four-color print.

Pantone:

Also called Pantone Matching System or PMS, it’s acually a company that created a patented color space and primarily for use in printing. Pantone is the standard for color matching and normalization. Pantone uses the CMYK method to produce what are called spot colors, or solid colors, it has dozens of physical swatch books and digital books to match so you can have Pantone colors used in digital artwork and their consistency is guaranteed.

What printing method should I choose?

Everyone has their own opinion on the best paper printing method and color system. Offset printing and flexo printing are two of the most popular methods in most conditions, the advantage of offset printing is fast and low cost, it allows manufacturers to provide competitive prices for smaller and larger printing volumes; and one of the biggest advantages of flexographic printing is environmental protection, corresponding to flexographic printing The cost of paper cups will also be higher. There are also manufacturers who choose digital printing to meet the needs of customers for small batch printing and fast delivery; from the perspective of color, CMYK can fully meet the color requirements in general printing, but when you need more advanced design and more accurate and detailed colors, Pantone may be more suitable.

Tuobo Packaging was founded in 2015, and is one of the leading paper packaging manufacturers, factories & suppliers in China, accepting OEM, ODM, SKD orders. We have rich experiences in production & research development for different kinds of types such as single-wall/double-wall coffee cups, printed ice cream paper cups, and so on. With advanced production equipment, and a factory covering an area of 3000 square meters, we are able to provide better products and services.

If you are interested in getting a quote for your branded paper cups or need some help or advice then get in touch with Tuobo Packaging today! Call us at 0086-13410678885 or email us at fannie@toppackhk.com.