Print Your Pictures in Latte Art with Edible Inks

Would you pay for it?

Are you a fan of latte art? Who isn’t nowadays? Having beautiful designs accompanying your cup of coffee is just so fun and pretty. They make some good Instagram material as well. It’s really cool to see all the baristas that put so much dedication into every cup of coffee they serve. But what if you could decide the exact design that you want on your drink? What if there were no limits to what you want your latte to reflect?

Now it’s possible. Thanks to 3D printing technology, you can have any pictures you want to be drawn on the surface of your cup of joe. If you’re a selfie addict, you can also have your own pictures on them as well, although that might be… a little narcissistic. But hey, you do you.

How does it work?

In only ten seconds you could have a highly detailed image on your latte. These machines combine 3D printing with an ink-jet system to create complex imagery. They use natural coffee extracts, called Ripple pods, to draw the pictures with different shades of brownish colors.

Through the Ripple app, you can choose from a gallery the design you wish to have on your cup. You can also select a picture from your own camera roll and pick anything, from inspirational messages to images of your loved ones or friends. After you’ve selected the image, it can be edited, scaled, filtered and even have text added to customize your latte art as much as you want to!

Steam CC, the company behind the printer, sells the product for $999, available to commercial establishments that sell coffee. It includes a Wi-Fi enabled device and hundreds of images to choose from, with new ones constantly being uploaded to the cloud. Artists can also submit their work for consideration! Typically, the system automatically adjusts all designs to a range of cups up to 7’ high and 4.5’ wide.

If you have the mobile Ripple app, you can find cafes within your zone that serve drinks with a Coffee Ripple printer and head there to pick your own creation.

If you have a restaurant or a coffee shop, these printers could be a really cool way to offer a unique experience to your customers and increase brand loyalty. Cafes are perfect places to hang out with friends, and people are always looking for things they can share and talk about with their loved ones. Giving your customers the option to customize their own products and even give them a sentimental value is a great example of an experience worth sharing with others!

So would you like to print your own pictures in your latte art? Even if you end up drinking it up, it can be really fun and cool way to surprise your friends and family. Tell us in the comments what you think and stay updated with our content by following us on That Coffee Roasters’ social media!

All you have to do is choose a picture.

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That Coffee Roasters

Phone Number: (305) 821-8811

2697 W. 76 Street, Hialeah, Florida 33016

Facebook: That Coffee Roasters

Instagram: thatcoffeeroasters

Should You Offer Free WiFi Connection in Your Cafe?

Many cafes offer WiFi connection, but is it truly the best choice?

You enter your favorite coffee shop. It’s full of people working on their laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Sounds of fingers hitting keys and texts notifications popping up are subtly camouflaged by the cashier’s voice taking orders, the espresso machine doing its magic, and the mild conversations taking place in some of the tables. Does this sound familiar to you?

It’s already been many years since technology made its way into our lives and our everyday activities. Around 2010, coffee shops started offering free WiFi connection to their customers. It worked wonderfully for franchises like Starbucks. Because of it, and ever since then, this practice has widely spread and many cafe owners started thinking of it as a competitive rule. They think you should offer free WiFi because that’s what everybody wants.

Well, what if we told you that’s changing? Many cafés are actually starting to ban Internet usage in an effort to encourage face-to-face interactions and provide an environment free from communication technologies. It might seem a little hipsterish at first. After all, it’s true that offering free WiFi can attract many potential customers, such as freelancers, to your store. The problem is: it also implies the risk of turning your cafe into an office.

No one stays in a coffee shop for five hours straight, but if they got a report to finish and free connection to use, they might. So offering free WiFi can encourage customers to stay longer, but that will only be useful if they keep ordering. And that’s not one hundred percent bound to happen. That's why you’ll probably feel the need to keep your customers coming and going.

Do you remember when cafés were about meeting with your friends and having conversations? Yes, that still happens. But does a workplace environment inspires that feeling? Probably not. That’s the reason why so many cafés are changing their approach around WiFi connections and are trying to offer something that can be seen as unique nowadays: a place to talk and engage in real-time human interactions.

This does not mean that you shouldn’t have free WiFi. It depends on what your close competition is doing, your customer's needs, and which kind of experience you’d like to offer them. Many coffee shop's owners feel like offering this service is a true perk that inspires their visitors to choose them over other places.

But you should unquestionably think it thoroughly and not do it only because you feel you have to. There are many costs associated with a stable WiFi connection, and if it starts to fail because of lack of maintenance, it can turn into a reason for your customers to complain and get angry. It’s better not to offer it at all if it’s barely going to be usable.

What do you think? Do you feel like coffee houses' mystic aura has been lost due to technology? Do you prefer to have a place where you can rest from the digital world and engage in meaningful conversations while enjoying your favorite cup of coffee? Trends are always changing, so it’s important to keep a record of what customers prefer! At That Coffee Roasters, we’re always looking forward to giving our clients the very best. If you have that in mind, you’ll probably succeed no matter what your choice is!

It will all depend on your customers' needs.

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That Coffee Roasters

Phone Number: (305) 821-8811

2697 W. 76 Street, Hialeah, Florida 33016

Facebook: That Coffee Roasters

Instagram: thatcoffeeroasters