Most people don't spend much time thinking about the cup they're drinking from.

It holds the coffee, tea, water or sparkling drink, and that's usually the end of the story.

VITRI wants to change that.

The young drinkware company has built its entire philosophy around a surprisingly simple idea: what you drink from can affect the experience just as much as what you put inside it.

Instead of combining glass with plastic, silicone, rubber or metal, VITRI focuses on drinkware made primarily from borosilicate glass, including double-wall insulated cups and an unusual all-glass lid system.

And behind the brand are two founders with backgrounds that make the story considerably more interesting.

VITRI was co-founded by Patrick McCluskey, who holds a PhD in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering from Harvard and spent more than a decade developing advanced materials at General Electric, and Zack Kamen, an industrial designer who worked in Apple's Industrial Design group before later leading furniture design at NEMO Equipment.

Together, they approached the humble drinking cup almost like a piece of industrial design.

The result is VITRI.

The company's philosophy is centered on the idea of "pure glass for pure taste." Its drinkware uses borosilicate glass, a material valued for its clarity, chemical resistance and ability to withstand changes in temperature.

For VITRI, the appeal of glass isn't just aesthetic.

Glass is naturally taste-neutral, meaning it doesn't add a noticeable flavor to what you're drinking. The company argues that this makes it an ideal material for people who care about coffee, tea, sparkling water and other drinks where taste matters.

But the most interesting part of the design may be the lid.

Most reusable tumblers use some combination of plastic, silicone or rubber around the lid to create a seal. VITRI took a different approach with its patented glass-to-glass lid.

The lid sits within the glass rim using a friction fit, eliminating the need for a silicone gasket or rubber seal while keeping the surfaces that come into contact with your drink made from glass.

It is a small detail, but it changes the entire character of the product.

Instead of seeing a familiar travel tumbler with a different exterior, you're looking at a product designed around a very specific material philosophy.

VITRI currently offers 10oz all-glass lidded tumblers as well as 12oz double-wall glass-and-straw sets. The company also sells individual borosilicate glass straws in several colors.

The 12oz sets are double-wall insulated, designed to help maintain the temperature of hot and cold drinks while keeping the outside comfortable to hold. They are available in colors including clear, rose and marine.

The result is drinkware that looks considerably more refined than the typical plastic tumbler.

And VITRI has already received recognition from the specialty beverage world.

Its original tumbler was recognized as the Best New Product in Coffee Accessories at the Specialty Coffee Expo, while VITRI also received a Sustainability Award at the World Tea Expo.

The brand has subsequently appeared in specialist coffee and tea coverage. Daily Coffee News featured VITRI among the new products showcased at the 2022 Specialty Coffee Expo, while the brand's press archive also lists coverage from the World Tea Expo and South Shore Home, Life & Style.

That recognition is particularly useful because VITRI is still a relatively young company.

It doesn't yet have the enormous customer-review history of established drinkware brands, so the awards and specialist-industry attention provide an important indication that the product is doing something genuinely different.

Customer feedback on VITRI's own website is also currently very positive.

The 10oz all-glass tumblers display a 5.0 out of 5 rating from six reviews, while the 12oz glass-and-straw sets currently show 5.0 out of 5 from two reviews.

Those numbers should be viewed as early customer feedback rather than a huge statistical sample, but the perfect ratings are another encouraging signal.

Perhaps the most appealing thing about VITRI is how deliberately it treats an everyday object.

The cup isn't covered in unnecessary features. The design is clean, the materials are central to the product and the details are meant to solve small problems that people have simply become accustomed to accepting.

Even the packaging follows the same philosophy.

VITRI says its products are shipped in purpose-built, paper-based packaging without plastic fillers, with the packaging designed to be recyclable.

The company also offers a 30-day return policy and accident replacement for its products, while shipping worldwide.

Of course, glass isn't for everyone.

VITRI itself acknowledges that its products are still made from glass and can break if dropped onto a hard surface. Borosilicate glass is more resistant to thermal shock and impact than standard glass, but it isn't indestructible. The company recommends handling the drinkware with care.

That honesty actually makes the product proposition easier to understand.

VITRI isn't trying to make a cup that behaves like a plastic bottle.

It's deliberately choosing glass because of what glass offers: a clean taste, a smooth surface, visual simplicity and a material that can be used again and again.

And that brings us back to the company's central idea.

Your cup matters.

For someone who treats coffee preparation as a ritual, cares about the taste of tea, enjoys beautifully designed objects or simply wants to reduce the amount of plastic in their everyday routine, VITRI offers a compelling alternative to the standard tumbler.

What makes the company especially interesting is the people behind it.

A materials scientist who spent years working with advanced materials at GE and an industrial designer who worked within Apple's design organization might seem like an unlikely pair to build a drinkware company.

But perhaps a cup is exactly the kind of object that benefits from that combination.

It is simple enough that every detail matters.

The material.

The weight.

The shape.

The lid.

The way it feels in your hand.

The way your coffee tastes when nothing else is touching it.

VITRI has taken all of those details and made them the entire point.

It may be a relatively young brand, but with recognition from the Specialty Coffee Expo and World Tea Expo, coverage in specialist publications and a product philosophy that is genuinely different from most mainstream tumblers, VITRI is a drinkware brand worth watching.

Sometimes the most interesting design isn't about adding more.

It's about removing everything that doesn't need to be there.

And for VITRI, that means getting back to glass.