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Comment by oersted | Hacker News Reader

> robotic baristas

Coffee vending machines? That’s what’s inside the box, it’s nothing new really… There are very high quality ones too. It’s not a particularly skilled job for a human to do, besides the customer service aspect of course, perhaps I am ignorant in that regard.

Indeed, coming from Spain, I don’t really see the lady as a barista, she is the classic bartender that listens to you and knows everybody. Except the bar is open throughout the day, is family friendly, sells all kinds besides alcohol (breakfast, coffee, tobacco, lunch, dinner, newspapers, lottery tickets, snacks and sweets…), and generally acts as the social nexus of the neighborhood. These old school small bars are everywhere in southern EU. Within that context it is less surprising that she would stay working there as long as she physically could.

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I am also Spanish, living in Japan, and our bars is one the things I miss the most. Seriously, you don't realize how amazing Spanish bars are until you don't have them.

Here I just stop by a konbini, grab a can coffee and a plastic-wrapped sandwich, and off I go. There is no social nexus, and no neighbourhood for that matter. It's depressing.

Weren't the Izakaya's close to a Spanish bar?

Izakaya usually only open for dinner, maybe lunch, but definitely not breakfast. Many of them also offer private rooms, which is the complete opposite of the social aspect of Spanish bars...

Not to mention that a lot of Japanese cafes don't open until late morning or early afternoon.

When I was teaching in Ube, Japan in 1979, there was a great jazz music coffee bar. The entire wall behind the counter was covered with jazz LP's. They had huge speakers, a massive turntable, and a McIntosh amp. You would go in, pick an album and order coffee. The counter was lined with vacuum coffee makers. The barista would grind your choice of bean and fire up the coffee alembic. The boiling water would erupt into the upper chamber, brew a while, then magically get sucked down into the bottom carafe when he took it off the flame. You could drink at the counter or go to a table. I didn't look like a beatnik, but I felt like one! Cool, daddio.

I am pretty sure that it was insanely cool and I would love to visit a place like that, but it is not the kind of bars we are talking about...

> Coffee vending machines? That’s what’s inside the box, it’s nothing new really… There are very high quality ones too.

I have yet to see a high-quality one.

I've been at two offices that have automated espresso machines. They'll make something that's labeled as a "Latte", but it's just coffee with powdered milk.

You are right that most are not very good, but it's more because of business reasons than technical ones. It's more costly and bulky to keep remote coffee machines supplied with fresh milk or cream, as well as other extras, and keep it all well refrigerated. Most people do not seem to be ready to pay extra for it.

But a robot barista in a coffee shop would end up being exactly like normal coffee machines that have been around forever, perhaps just a bit higher-end than an office one. It's not really an idea like OP was implying.

I've had a coffee from a high end bean to cup machines, installed in a conference room at our vebdor's headquarters, which used fresh milk and made a better cappuccino than I've had from real humans at many chain coffee shops. They might be rare, but they're out there.

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