It’s 7:45 am. You grab your takeaway coffee, hug the warm cup, take a sip, and head out the door. It feels safe and familiar — just your daily caffeine boost. But new research suggests that with that first sip, you may also be swallowing thousands of tiny plastic fragments, hiding where you’d never expect them.

These tiny pieces are called microplastics — pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters in size, and they have been found on every part of the planet, from Antarctica to the top of Mount Everest. They come from larger plastic items breaking down or being released directly from products as we use them.

Scientists looked at how takeaway coffee cups behave when filled with hot liquid. They tested 400 real cups — both fully plastic cups and paper cups with a thin plastic lining. The results were clear: heat is the trigger. The hotter the drink, the more microplastics end up in your cup.

For example, switching from iced (5°C) to hot (60°C) coffee increased plastic release by about 33% in all-plastic cups. If someone drinks 300 ml of hot coffee from a plastic cup every day, they could swallow hundreds of thousands of microplastic particles a year.

Other research supports this finding. A recent study by researchers at the University of Birmingham found that hot drinks like coffee and tea can contain dozens of microplastic particles per liter, with higher temperatures and plastic-lined cups linked to greater release.

However, we still don’t know exactly what these microplastics do inside the human body, and research is ongoing. Some scientists warn that microplastics may interact with cells and possibly affect health, but more evidence is needed.

So what's the solution? Of course, you don't have to give up your coffee habit, but you can drink smarter. A reusable cup, a slightly cooler drink, or even choosing paper, glass or ceramic cups over plastic ones can make a big difference.

Simple choices like these put you in control — and suddenly, your coffee isn’t just a habit, it’s a small act of care for yourself and the world around you.