Does Artly Coffee’s Barista Robot Make Better Drinks than a Human?

Can the AI-powered robot barista at Artly Coffee, developed by former Amazon employees and trained by a latte art champion, change my mind about the (unlikely) possibility of robots taking over the restaurant industry?

This is an analysis of the Artly AI cafe experience in Seattle, WA.

Includes takeaways for food entrepreneurs thinking about incorporating robotics in their restaurant or coffee shop.

A brief introduction to Artly AI

Artly AI builds, sells and leases patented bots designed to make and serve a variety of drinks, including coffee, tea and cocktails.

They’ve also developed a learning program to train robots in their Robot School.

Not only can the robots make drinks, they can create latte art, chop food and more, simply by “observing” the movements and actions of people.

Consumers can order something to drink at one of their coffee shops, two of which are in Seattle.

How to order your drink & what happens after

• Inside the store, use one of the tablets to browse and order from the menu. The Pike Place store has one small tablet and a giant touch screen display
• Pay by tapping your card directly on the side of the tablet or by using the card reader on the counter next to the tablet
• Your order will appear on the screen on the back wall
• One of the robotic arms will let you know that they’ll start working on your drink, so this is the time to get your phone or camera ready
• Once the robotic arm is finished making your drink, it will place it on the counter, at the space that is marked with your name
• If something is in the way, the robotic arm will hold your drink and instruct you to move the object (likely someone else’s drink they haven’t picked up yet)
• The arm will announce your name and that your order is ready

What’s on the menu?

Plenty of locally-made pastries, hot and cold drinks and coffee beans that are roasted in-house.

Cold drinks with prices

• Iced Americano: $4
• Iced Latte: $5.25
• Iced Mocha: $6
• Iced Rose Latte: $6.35
• Iced Strawberry Milk: $5.50
• Snowy Latte: $6

Hot drinks with prices

• Artisan Earl Grey Latte: $5
• Seattle Fog: $7
• Matcha Latte: $4.95
• Hot Chocolate: $4.25
• Rose Latte: $5.90
• Snowmelt Americano: $6.25 (but I guess it was on sale for $6)
• Espresso: $3.50
• Mocha: $5.50
• Cappuccino: $4.75
• Americano: $4

The menus on display for the Seattle locations are slightly different.

For example, there’s a Rose Cloud drink and the Rose Yuzu Refresher on the Hill 7 menu.

Also, the Pike Place store sells pastries from local bakeries Lazy Cabbage Bakery and Macrina Bakery.

What Artly Coffee does well

Amanda, Jarvis and Ponyo are entertaining to watch

Yes, the robotic arms have names.

Even though I interaction with robots in restaurant and cafe settings more than the average person, I was still amused each time I watched a drink being made. 

And the entertainment factor is relegated to kids.

During our childhood we consumed all types of media that featured robots making our food and cleaning our rooms. 

Like The Jetsons.

Since so little of this materialized into present day, it’s almost shocking to see a bit of ‘progress’ toward robots supposedly making our lives easier.

The cafe interior has a modern look and feel

The overall branding is fun and welcoming but not immature. 

It’s also futuristic without alienating people or making them feel like this cafe is too ‘new age’ for them. 

I wouldn’t describe this cafe as cozy, but I felt comfortable enough to sit down and chill.

The best part of the Artly Coffee experience was chatting with a staff member

Yes, a human!

For safety and security, I won’t disclose this person’s name but I enjoyed learning about their experiences working at the cafe and appreciated their help when the robots were either malfunctioning or stalling.

I’ve been to several robot restaurants, cafes, and pop up experiences (in the U.S. and in Japan) and absolutely none of them can function without trained human employees.

From what I’ve witnessed, the bots end up creating more problems for staff and customers than solving any inefficiencies with preparing, cooking or serving food and drinks.

Where Artly Coffee misses the mark

None of my drinks were good. At all

Across both Seattle stores, I ordered three drinks:

• Silver Jade Matcha | $6.25 base price | 12 oz iced
• Matcha Flat White with latte art | $5 base price | 10 oz hot
• Sicilian Yuzu Refresher | $7 base price | 12 oz iced

Base price means before any customizations (if available) and before tax.

All three drinks were completely watered down. 

The Silver Jade was mainly milk with what seemed like two drops of matcha. I tasted the milk, but not the matcha.

I don’t require that my matcha drinks have an intense green color, but I expected a more vibrant color.

If I made a matcha latte at home and it looked like this, there’s no way I’d post it on Instagram or TikTok, unless I wanted to rage-bait.

The latte art is underwhelming

Correction: The latte art from a robotic arm trained by a U.S. Latte Art Champion is underwhelming.

The Matcha Flat White (also bland) was supposed to have the simple heart latte art, which most baristas learn as beginners.

The shape of the heart is visible, but from a robot, I was expecting sharper lines, and honestly, a more complex design.

According to their website, Artly is supposed to mimic the skills of a human barista but on a consistent basis and efficiently.

I noticed in their YouTube Short that attendees at last year’s CES (the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas) had much better latte art than what I and other customers paid for.

Customers want options. Milk options, that is

I’ve visited more than 100 cafes around the world and it’s commonplace to see at least 2 – 3 non-dairy milk options on the menu.

However, according to Yelp, this is one of the top complaints from Artly customers – whole milk is the only option for most of the drinks.

I was able to get oat milk (an extra $1) for my Matcha Flat White, but not for the Silver Jade drink.

Oat milk and other plant based alternatives can be tricky to work with, but other restaurants and cafes (especially the ones without robots) have figured it out.

I expect the same from this cafe.

Artly Coffee locations

On their website, they list several cafe locations in North America, including:

• MUJI stores: Hudson Yard (NYC), Atrium (Toronto), Robson Street (Vancouver) and Portland
• Pier 39 in San Francisco
• Hill 7 and Pike Place in Seattle

However, call the store to confirm because I went to MUJI Market when it was still listed on the Artly website and was told by MUJI staff that the robot had been removed several months prior.

Final thoughts for consumers & food entrepreneurs

For consumers & content creators

Should Artly Coffee go on your cafe hopping list?

If you’re planning to visit Pike Place, then sure, because you’ll probably walk by it anyway.

You’ll get a few minutes of entertainment and hopefully better latte art.

For entrepreneurs who want to know how much the Artly Coffee robot costs

Are you planning a cafe, restaurant or pop up concept and thinking about getting one of these barista robots?

According to their website, the price of the Artly robot is either $2,500 USD per month to rent or $88,000 USD to own plus a monthly fee for the software.

It can typically cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to open a cafe or restaurant.

Will you spend this amount of money upfront and on a monthly basis for kitchen equipment you don’t need?

And what’s your strategy for moving beyond the two-minute entertainment these robotic baristas provide?

Gimmicks get people in the door but how do you keep them coming back?

Examples of robotics used in cafes in Japan

How Japanese restaurants & cafes leverage robotics