Coffee Coming Up, Nice And Hot ... And Prepared By A Robot

Pre discussion questions

Do you think robots will make all our coffees in the future?

If robots made our drinks in a café, would you be happy or sad about that? Why?

A new trend is happening with coffee world. Café quality coffee is being made by a robot. The coffee is able to be ordered by using a cellphone and picked up at a vending machine just like your favorite drinks and snacks are now. And the coffee is perfectly prepared to your taste and is ready to go.

To some people, this might seem sad. Is it the end of coffee shops as we know them. No more sitting around with warm cups of coffee with friends or an iced latte while reading.

But to others, this might be just what they've waited for: no lines when you're busy. And coffee is prepared by a machine that is programmed to make it perfectly every time.

The newest company to present such a coffee machine is Austin Texas company Briggo. Briggo opened its first coffee machine kiosk on the University of Texas' Austin campus in July 2015. The kiosk — named "The Coffee Haus" — takes up about 20 square meters. It has a nice exterior wood design, and accepts orders at the machine or across the campus on the internet. The customer is told by internet precisely when the drink will be ready.

Customers are able to control everything about the coffee to exactly how they like it. For example, the flavor, how much sugar and milk, and exact amount of each ingredient. A variety of choices are offered, from espressos and lattes to iced coffees and hot chocolate. If customers make an account online, the system will remember their favorite order.

The easiness of this machine is probably the best thing about the machine.  Drinkers who've tried Briggo's coffee say that the quality of the coffee is nothing to sniff at, either.

Baristas being trained need to learn the tricks of the trade.  But the robots have been programmed to control every part of the coffee making process. The goal is to make a perfect tasting coffee every time.

"The coffee tastes good and it always tastes the same," Yamit , a student at UT Austin, says.

The machine can measure humidity, temperature, water pressure, timing and other such factors perfectly.

Briggo isn't the only company to pursue a robotic coffee venture. There's also the Marley Coffee Machine, which plays Bob Marley songs while the robot within the box prepares coffee from freshly ground beans. And Starbucks' brand, Seattle's Best, is doing business with the company that owns Redbox to have a one dollar coffee kiosk in hundreds of supermarkets across the U.S.A.

But, although students at UT Austin enjoy the Briggo "Coffee Haus," many of them still prefer the value of a real coffee shop experience.

"At coffee shops you can make friendships with the people making your drink and have a more personal interaction. says another student at UT. "I believe that's very important in today's society, especially because electronics have taken over face-to-face communication."

The coffee kiosks don't have to eliminate coffee shops. Instead, they can be a nice addition: something there when we need it, but making excellent coffee.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=2, B=1, C=8, D=5, E=3, F=7, G=6, H=4

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1. A trend these days is for more bubble tea shops.

2. At precisely 9am, my boss arrived.

3. Winning this competition is not easy, it is nothing to sniff at.

4. One of the tricks of the trade to teaching well is to understand how your students think.

5. You can be happy by pursuing your deams.

6. He was a venture capitalist, he would loan money to new business ideas.

7. There is a lot of interaction between second year students and freshman at university.

8. He was eliminated from the competition because he took illegal drugs.

    

    

    

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1. How big do you think this coffee trend will become?

2. Precisely how much do you think this could become a trend in your country?

3. Can you think of something that someone has sniffed at, but they were wrong about?

4. What tricks of the trade have you learned in your work or study that will make you more successful?

5. Which companies do you  think will pursue this type of technology in Korea?

6. Would you invest in this type of venture in your country? Why or why not?

7. What do you like about the interaction of going to a café or bar?

8. Do you think these coffee robots could eliminate café baristas in the futue?