Vessyl: the cup that knows what you’re drinking

Did you know that a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Frappucino has as much calories as 3.7 cans of Coke? A lot of people today are conscious of what they eat, logging in every bite in calorie counters and weight watchers. With so much focus on food, it’s a surprise that we don’t catalog the other things that we put in our mouths. You’d be surprised at how much calories, sugar, and caffeine we take in every day from the drinks we have. But drinking (and everything it’s packed with) is arbitrary, depending on how thirsty we are. Besides factory-packed drinks, there isn’t an exact serving size that’s measurable for counters. So, with this difficulty in measuring, how do you know if you’ve been drinking too much and hydrating too little?

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Imagine being able to tell what you’re drinking, how many calories, fats, sugars, and caffeine you’re taking in, and how much you need to hydrate, the very moment it’s poured into the cup. This is Vessyl, the intelligent cup that knows what you’re drinking.

Seven years in the making, Vessyl is the first product from Mark One, a San Francisco-based company that focuses on products which will enable its users to make informed and healthier choices in real time.

Using advanced sensing technology, any liquid poured into the Vessyl is broken down molecularly and analyzed to provide relevant feedback on what you’re drinking and how to improve your lifestyle based on your drinks. The Vessyl can tell if you’re drinking milk or juice. It claims to have the ability to distinguish Pepsi from Coke. As mentioned above, the cup can tell how many calories and total grams of sugar, fat, protein, sodium, and caffeine is in your drink. It will estimate your hydration needs every day. You can also log in an intake health goal and the cup will monitor your intake towards this goal each day.

Integrated into an Apple- and Android-compatible app, you’ll be able to access all of the data straight from your smartphone. Data from the cup to the app is transmitted through Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Every detail of what you just drank is logged into the Vessyl app.

The Vessyl is a minimalist wonder that goes well with any upholstery. It’s fashionable yet functional. It has a spill-proof lid, a non-stick interior, a durable build, and a discrete screen on the side for displaying consumption data. A charging coaster goes with the Vessyl and will power it up for a full week with just an hour of charging time.

As with all new innovations, the Vessyl can be purchased by ordering online. The product is expected to be out early next year. When it comes out in retail, it will be US$199. Early backers will be discounted by a hundred dollars to enjoy a price tag of only US$99.

With a cup that will be able to tell what you’re drinking, health technology now informs and encourages us to make healthier choices in life. We can tell exactly how many calories we take in everyday. With these capabilities, reasons for being unhealthy are slowly disappearing. We know everything now. Of course, prices will still be an issue as the technology is just starting. But prices will fall and a healthy world is possible in the future. With Vessyl, you can catalog what you’re drinking. In the future, we may even change the entire make-up of what we’re drinking.