The Blue Cup

There are many New York landmarks and pop culture icons, but to me by far the most prized New York souvenir is the blue coffee cup. You've seen in a million times in movies and TV series, they pop up in Law and Order all the time. I'm talking about the blue disposable coffee cups with the Greek inspired design on them. I decided that I had to find one and experience coffee from within is blue paper goodness.

The cup was first used in 1963, and has been synonymous with New York coffee ever since. The catch is that you can't just pop into Starbucks and hope to get one. It's far more complicated that that. If you are a tourist or a coffee purist, you will have to venture out of your comfort zone and out of franchise-land. OK, so maybe finding the cup on TV is far easier than actually finding it in person. These cups are so popular that the City Store, operated by the City of New York, sells ceramic versions of it. Not only that, but apparently they frequently run out of stock. So you'd think that finding the real thing would be a snap. But no, it will take some work, and while you're at it, a great walk through the city.

Today's walk was to be fairly simple, with a humble goal: to find the blue cup. It took me 2 hours and 36 minutes to finally find one. Starbucks has taken over, and Starbucks cups are everywhere. They are overflowing from city trash bins and, if left unchecked, like on last year's New Year's Day, they formed a curious urban sculpture of cone-like Christmas tree growing out of the garbage. But never mind. The blue cup can't be extinct, at least not yet.

I saw a woman sipping from it in the vicinity of Canal and Lafayette. I tried to ask her where she got it, but there were so many people on the sidewalk that I couldn't come near her in a timely manner and she disappeared into a store. I could have followed, but it would be more than I'm generally willing to do for a cup of coffee. Instead, I walked a two-block radius in the area and came up empty handed.

I was told the key to buying a coffee in the blue cup is to go to a deli, which is what I did next. I took the no. 6 subway (I know this is cheating, I should be walking, but it was cold and I had to pee) to Union Square and walked up Broadway. I figured with the several non-franchise eating establishments there, and the less crowded sidewalks, I could make some progress towards the goal.

I walked to the outskirts of Times Square, not wanting to get into the tourist mayhem of pre-holiday NY. Nothing. I looked into every deli, every pizza joint. Some had brown cups, some had those ugly green and purple ones but mostly, they had plain white paper cups.

My feet were aching, tired from the stop and go walking of Chinatown right before Christmas. I had to pee. I longed for a Starbucks where I could get a cup of coffee, the key to the lady's room and a place to rest my feet. But no. Now I couldn't find even a Starbucks either. They are everywhere when you are not interested, but try and find one in a pinch and they seem to disappear. I double backed towards Penn Station, figuring I'd just call it a day. I came upon Pronto Pizza, where, low and behold, I finally got my blue cup of coffee. I sat on a stool, looking out the window towards the eerie glow of Times Square. It was de best damn cup of coffee I've had in a while.