Automated Barista: A Change of Lifestyle

Posted on Dec 3, 2020

Automated Barista

An automated barista is capable of making 100 or more cups of coffee in an hour, which is relatively faster than the speed of one or more human barista that works at the same time. If hiring a human barista, it takes time for the staff to ask the requirements of the customer, such as the categories of beans, the mill or the alternatives, the numbers of expresso shots, and the flavorings, etc. These add up the time of making coffee, which takes much more time than an automated barista does.

What Is an Automated Barista?

An automated barista, also known as a robotic barista, a robot barista, or a coffee robot, is an advanced technology that all credits to artificial intelligence (AI), which serves the customers fresh coffee with good quality and large quantity. The automated barista utilizes the technology of robotics to make coffee the same as that made by a human barista. This technology was invented in 2015 by the founder of a well-known brand of coffee, Henry Hu, who came up with this idea after getting tired of waiting for a long queue in a traditional coffee shop.

Having a cup of coffee has gradually become one of the daily routines by many people nowadays since coffee is regarded as a helper that wakes up our brains before devoting ourselves to the busy works every day. While we are used to stepping into the coffee shop and making an order to the staff who is standing behind the counter. After that, we would receive a warm cup of coffee with a warm smile from the staff, then start a brand-new day. This is talking about a pleasant experience, though. In fact, during the rush times such as in the morning or in the noon, there might be a lot of people who make good use of their precious break time to get relief by having a cup of coffee. If you come late, you wait for the queue and see the break time of your work is almost over, and you are going too late for work, that must not be any experience of pleasure. Hence, the automated barista is invented to reduce the waiting time of getting a coffee, because an automated barista is able to make 100 or more cups of coffee in an hour, which means that it works fast enough to welcome the crowded lines that wait for the coffee.

:: Read More: Why Should You Use a Robot Arm Coffee Maker?


Getting Coffee by Robot or Human Barista?

As the above introduction has mentioned, people are used to getting a cup of coffee from a coffee shop. If they are in a rush, the fast-food restaurants that serve coffee may be another choice for them. With the continuously progressing society, nowadays, lives at a fast pace is what people can’t get familiar with more. Coffee that is made by a human barista provides chances for interaction, which is harmonious and friendly. While there are some reasons that an automated barista is rising to the same level as a human barista.
 

Service Speed

As far as we know, an automated barista is capable of making 100 or more cups of coffee in an hour, which is relatively faster than the speed of one or more human barista that works at the same time. If hiring a human barista, it takes time for the staff to ask the requirements of the customer, such as the categories of beans, the mill or the alternatives, the numbers of expresso shots, and the flavorings, etc. These should further be added up with the time of making the coffee, which takes much more time than an automated barista does. However, the automated barista usually allows the customers to make their orders on a self-service kiosk, which is also common in the fast-food restaurant, or ordering coffee from an App on their smartphones before they actually step into the coffee shop. When the order is ready, the customer would receive a pickup code in a text, then they can get their coffee once they type in their own pickup code within seconds. This not only reduces the time that is spent on ordering orally but also reduces the time of making coffee manually, which is good news to the customers for sure.


Durability

Considering the repeatedly asking for the requirements of the customers, the staff or the human baristas may get tired throughout the day, which makes the efficiency reduces significantly, and the time that a customer gets a cup of coffee would be longer and longer. However, except for the time of cleaning or refilling the coffee beans, the robots are never tired. As a customer, no one wants to get a cup of coffee of different quality from another cup. An automated barista is able to make coffee the same quality with the same speed no matter in the morning or at night, which is relatively more durable than a human barista.


The Quality of Coffee

Since the automated barista is operated by the preset program, once the instruction from the order is ready, the machine starts to making coffee automatically. Although the process is done by the automated barista, the quality of beans or the patterns of the works are controlled manually, so receiving the specialty coffee is not as difficult thing from an automated barista as people imagine. In other words, not only the experienced and professional human baristas have the ability to make the coffee with high quality, but the automated baristas definitely have it as well.


Convenience

With the connected Apps or self-serving kiosks, the customers can order a cup of coffee with their own requirements beforehand and get the coffee within just seconds. This ensures the convenience of the technology of the automated baristas, which makes this device commonly adopted in places that pursue fast speed, such as office buildings or airports. For the people who are busy working or have limited time before getting on the flight, the automated baristas can surely meet their demand.


Costs

When it comes to business, costs are one of the things that the industries should take into concern. Using traditional coffee machines to make coffee seems to cost less than a high-technology automated barista, while this is what can be further discussed. Since the traditional machines require human baristas to operate and maintain, which adds the labor expenditure to the costs. However, adopting the automated baristas costs more in the beginning, but they decrease the labor expenditure and increase the so-called “table turnover rate”, which increases the total revenue as well. Thus, this requires the process of sophisticated calculation that gets the result of the most effective ways of managing the coffee shops.


Can an Automated Barista totally Replace Human Baristas?

We have known the idea and features of the automated barista, there are still some doubts from people about this device. Now that there are such numerous advantages of adopting automated baristas, can they totally replace human baristas? In fact, they can’t be substituted for the human barista completely. Except for the service procedures that the customers can see, behind these procedures, there still should be the humans to operate the programs of the operating of the automated barista, change and refill coffee beans, or clean the automated baristas when they perform their works through the instructions. Therefore, adopting automated baristas doesn't mean that the personnel can be 100% replaced. Instead, utilizing this technology requires the interaction of the demands from the operators and the working abilities of the automated baristas, one cannot completely replace another.

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