Cafe X Metreon: Oddly cute

Entering an order

135 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
https://cafexapp.com/

Style and Character:8
Service: 8
Coffee: 8
Food: NA
Value: 7

Date of visit: 2019-02-03

OK, here's the gimmick. You walk to a touchscreen, enter your phone number, and order a coffee. A robot arm behind a plastic window picks up a cup and puts it in place to on an espresso machine. Soon you coffee is made. The robot places the cup on a counter that is still behind the plexiglass window. You receive a text message with a pickup number. You enter at the robot kiosk. The robot then places your cut onto a little platform that descents a few inches below the counter. A small sliding door near you opens, and you can take your coffee.

It's sort of ridiculous, totally unnecessary,  but maybe that doesn't mean it's bad. And it doesn't mean it's not the future.

First off, the coffee is good. If Cafe X served disappointing coffee, all this would unnecessary and annoying. But the coffee is good, no problems there.

You might expect that they have two or three different drinks, and that's all. But no, the selection is fairly broad.

- Americano
- Caffe Latte
- Caffe Mocha
- Cappucino
- Espresso
- Espresso Macchiato
- Flat White
- Dirty Chai Latte
- "Really Good Chocolate" (hot chocolate)
- "Really Good Matcha Latte"
- Chai Latte
- Really Good Milk & Really Good Oatly

One notable thing missing are cold drinks. The Cafe X website shows the robot serving what appears to be cold brew, but the system at the Metreon does not to have this option. Maybe they'll get that in place by summer.

I had the Americano with the Oatly milk. It's really nice that I had the option to have milk with my Americano. Scott had the Mocha, and it was excellent.

Where the menu is a bit lacking is in portion sizes. You're getting a short, and that's it. And to make things worse, there is no facility to have more than one drink per order. So if you're arriving and your three children each want a hot chocolate, you have to enter an order for hot chocolate three times, and swipe your card three times. This isn't a deal-breaker, but it could be a bit annoying.

And if you haven't guessed already, there is no way to pay in cash.

The prices vary between three and four dollars, or four to five bucks if you want single origin espresso. Given these are all short cups, this is not a cheap place to grab coffee. Don't come thinking there is no barista to pay and this savings will be passed on to you.

Kids love it

Gimmicks are, by definition, supposed to be entertaining. Is this robot entertaining? Yes! Yes it is entertaining. When Scott and I walked toward Cafe X the scene looked a bit sad, a little forgotten corner of the food court. Nobody was around except for a girl who seemed to be hanging out at one of the tables with no coffee. We tapped in our orders on the screens, and the robot "came alive" and immediately caught the eye a couple of children. Their mother let them watch the robot. Of course then her kids wanted the robot to make them something to drink. Lucky for them their mother was happy to indulge them. As I drank my coffee I could see this effect carry on, and not just with children. Adults see the robot in action, and the idea entering your own order and watching the robot do your bidding is somehow alluring.

Is this the future? Will this be how most cafes serve coffee? Will flesh-and-blood baristas seem quaint and old-fashioned in ten years. Will "real" baristas become a gimmick. Or is this an overly elaborate Bay Area solution of a problem that doesn't exist. It's clear from the Cafe X website that the creators are not aiming to simply entertain people with a single-arm robot; they're interested in making good consistent coffee, and, I suspect, have visions beyond just making coffee. In their own words:

"We augment human productivity and happiness through automation."

That's awesome. I wish the luck. But I was disappointed to find that none of the Cafe X swag (https://cafexapp.myshopify.com/) has a drawing of a robot arm. They need a t-shirt with a robot arm holding a cup of steaming coffee. Come on!