Robot Baristas Serve Up the Future of Coffee at Cafe X
wsj.com
wsj.com
It's the barista that says "no don't do that" when people do something that's not ok. It's the barista that kindly escorts the loud confused yelling man to the front door. It's also the barista that serves this other rather quirky person a coffee like nothing is the matter, because he knows the quirky person is really just that, quirky, no harm there.
If there's just a coffee machine, I will have to make all those calls myself. If there's just a coffee machine, people will be less at ease.
The barista is the security person more than anything else and keeps us feel safe by not looking or acting the part (because nobody feels safer nearby a security dude). Trying to replace all that by a robot feels very HAL 9000 to me.
And that's why we pay 5x the amount for a coffee served by a barista than a coffee served by a machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKMysMDK8wU
I'm sure by now they've gotten it to work though as it's a pretty simple process. I'll have to head over to the mall and check it out.
Not to mention, people go to cafes for the same reason they go to bars. Human interaction, a place to hang out, etc... Otherwise you can get a home coffee machine that does the same as the one at this "cafe"...
Maybe they can self-service, or self-clean, but otherwise I don't see how they'd be better than regular self-service coffee machines, which just can't compare (as the whole package) to a skilled barista.
Although I'm sure it varies hugely from market to market. On my travels, I've been very surprised at what is considered good coffee overseas, even across Europe!
I can only assume that coffee made by a machine, no matter how "perfect" will always lose to the hand made one, for no reason other than the fact that the latter is hand made.
The good barista that everyone here is so fond of is not very common.
* Water
* Beans filled with caffine
An espresso is usually steamed so you'd do the same process but use forced steam then run the evaporated gass through a condensation colum.
It's very doable and probably would yield more ROI/cup because you'll better be able to use time, power, and grindes to better deliver. Also the user experiance of walking up to a wall, clicking a few tick boxes, swiping a card and instantly getting some liquid spit into a cup that is exactly what you ordered sounds a lot nicer for some people.
[0] - http://www.homedepot.com/p/Triton-DI100-GPD-Aquarium-Water-F...
Why would I pay premium price for getting stuff from a will-less machine, that I can get cheaper from other such machines. Having coffee made for me by a human with free will, by free will, being made as well as it possible for a human is what is worth a premium price over the simple cost of ingredients and maintenance. For me, and I thing the future of economy the quality human labour with heart and soul put into the product is worth more than automation ( for the sake of automation)
But sure, you can always bash others for being dominant/submissive and enjoy the company of robots instead, and clap for another step in the direction of a uniformized dull mass produced world, where there is no submission, just freedom within will-less machines. I prefer a different freedom, based on free will.
*edit: phone autocompletion corrected.
You are suggesting that being a Barista is such a low peg on society and such a suffering to endure that it is akin to subservience.
Many baristas are incredibly talented and proud of what they do and make coffee an artisan pursuit. Not only that, but it is perfectly alright to enjoy serving coffee and enjoying customers company even if it isn't an artisan task for you and is just a job.
Regardless of all that, just because you replace a barista with a robot does not mean they will suddenly be interested in STEM fields or art or music or furthering a corporate career. I know you didn't suggest that, but the implication from others seems to be that if someone isn't doing an engineering job then they just aren't living correctly and they sure would if only they didn't have to do their blue collar job. That's clearly not the case nor will it ever be, no matter the will of progress and innovation.
Any coffee shop that does it will do it just for the money. They won't shed a tear for the barista who is now out of work.
If it doesn't save money, if people remain cheaper than machines, then the barista will keep the job.
Anyway most people who serve coffee are just _serving_ coffee, giving the trade a name doesn't automatically mean that the product is better. In my limited experience of coffee shops (I like coffee but it disagrees with me) the killer features of the good ones are good quality ingredients and repeatability. Whether it's made by machine, barista, or druid incantations it's all the same to me as long as the product is good.
The coffee shops I prefer are usually because the coffee is good, but the people serving and the venue itself were also a great experience. An example is the coffee store next door which has a fireplace, great music, sofas and the people behind the counter are all about getting to know the regulars and making everyone welcome. They take huge pride in what they do, which I guess is what my little rant was about. To call them servants undermines a job that is their passion and that's a bummer.
Couldn't one say exactly the same about a good butler?
If I go down to one of my local roasters, I know I get servered the near perfect cup. A machine would have to be calibrated multiple times a day to achieve the same level of consistency. And the barista would need to hone his/her skill to keep doing this.
Are you sure?
> making a machine understand it is impossible. It is still a craft.
Why? What is a 'craft'?
> A machine would have to be calibrated multiple times a day to achieve the same level of consistency
Don't you mean a simple machine?
There's a lot of science suggesting the perfect cup isn't so objective.
That is not even touching the different parameters such as preinfusion, variable pressure, grind, and changes in temperature during the brewing. To my knowledge we do not know how to process coffee in a way such that a machine can model and understand the human taste buds. And it certainly haven't been applied successfully to coffee brewing yet.
What I think you're suggesting is that the settings of that chemical process are configured by the barista based on taste, and that they vary based on a number of environmental conditions.
Surely then all we need to do is to correlate environmental conditions with brewing settings. Assuming there is a relationship to be found, it sounds like the perfect application of either statistics or machine learning.
Big companies have been trying for many years, and after millions of dollars spend in R&D they still don't have it figured out yet. Imagine providing a full automatic machine that can produce a cup better that WBC contenders - it could cost thousands of dollars in service fee every year, and still be cheaper than your run of the mill barista. They really want to do this, but it is far from trivial. Either the blend and roasting profile produce a bland coffee that is less susceptible to variations in brewing parameters, or you need to fine tune it multiple times a day, each being different for every roast you have. Things such as when it was harvested, how much rain the plant got, how it was roasted, how old it is, ect. all influence it, along side things such as current external parameters such as humidity.
Again, are you sure? There are industry scientists that study this.
A machine will make a more consistent cup, day in and day out then any barista.
To me in particular, any hope of a quality standard of the milk aspect of the coffee is lost completely.
But returning to your points - The 'Jura' standard of coffee is 'good enough', and only not good enough recently to hip-swiss or expats living here. The standard of coffee expected from a barista is significantly higher - I imagine the theoretical Jura coffee machine that can do this would cost an insane amount to build, and to maintain and calibrate.
That is, until we get a real AI powered robot that can optimize and adjust its technique to what is happening in the cup and in the milk jug.
In a post scarcity world, I imagine human work with its imperfections will have its own wabi sabi value. People already pay a hefty premium for artisan handmade products like pottery, furniture, even jeans.
“I could try composing wonderful musical works, or day-long entertainment epics, but what would that do? Give people pleasure? My wiping this table gives me pleasure. And people come to a clean table, which gives them pleasure. And anyway" - the man laughed - "people die; stars die; universes die. What is any achievement, however great it was, once time itself is dead? Of course, if all I did was wipe tables, then of course it would seem a mean and despicable waste of my huge intellectual potential. But because I choose to do it, it gives me pleasure. And," the man said with a smile, "it's a good way of meeting people. So where are you from, anyway?” ― Iain M. Banks, Use of Weapons
You can find it here starting on page 72 http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/659497-apr-may-2016
This robotic arm that serves ice cream is much more relevant as it performs a few more tasks (although at the end still a gimmick):
I'd probably call it RoBAR.
I've not seen it done with cocktails, however, only draught beer taps.
For an oversized office coffe machine it is excellent.