New smart cup determines content of beverages

A futuristic new product is removing the mystery from beverages. Vessyl is a cup that automatically knows what's inside.

Beverages are the number one source of unnoticed calories in diets. Vessyl, still in its prototype phase, was created to sense exactly what and how much users are actually drinking in order to keep a running total.

It can track alcohol, protein sugar and there's a metric called 'Pryme' that tracks hydration.

Vessyl knows if the user is over-hydrated or if they're under-hydrated, said Vessyl CEO Justin Lee.

The cup charges in a saucer and displays nutrition data on the user's smartphone.

So how does Vessyl work? That's a mystery.

"I know that they're really secretive about it. They didn't even want to divulge it to some investors and things like that," said VentureBeat writer Kia Kokalitcheva. "The team behind it, in terms of engineering, is really strong. Like, they have some former Apple people."

Clues can be taken from other products like TellSpec and SCiO, both handheld scanners that use infrared light to read a food's molecular fingerprint.

Preorders for SCiO have raised nearly $2.7 million on Kickstarter.

"I think SCiO is, they're doing it, like, in the name of, like, science and, like, discovery and, like, mapping out the physical world," Kokalitcheva said. "I think Vessyl wants to be a consumer product."

They made it simple. You pour, you drink -- Vessyl does the math.