TOKYO -- For many harried commuters in the morning, a steaming cup of coffee is the only way to start a productive day, and the quicker they can get one, the better. In Japan, a java-brewing robot is making that easier.
Now customers at Tokyo's Shimbashi Station can have a freshly brewed cup tailored to their tastes waiting for them when they arrive -- all with no human barista in sight.
The Root C machine, which came online in September, lets users order via app and specify pickup time slots. As the appointed time approaches, the requested drink is brewed inside the kiosk and placed into a small locker that the customer can open with a smartphone. The app can even help customers choose which varieties best suit their palates.
Services that provide coffee drinkers with customization and convenience -- whether via robot, by mail or in person -- have heated up recently in Japan, thanks partly to cooped-up consumers growing more particular about having their tastes catered to.
Root C offers 16 different drinks, including hot and iced varieties, all made with specialty beans. The app includes a seven-item questionnaire designed by baristas to help customers decide, asking about what aromas they like and what other drinks they enjoy, for example.
Customers can rate their drink afterward to help the artificial intelligence improve its recommendations. It can pinpoint the best flavor for a customer in as little as four tries, according to operator New Innovations.
The service was launched to help address the chronic labor shortage in Japan's restaurant industry. But "the fact that it's contactless got attention during the coronavirus outbreak," a representative said.
Business is robust, with customers who use Root C's unlimited monthly plan drinking an average of 55 to 56 cups per month. Five machines have been installed around Tokyo, and New Innovations plans to add a few more in October and November.
PostCoffee gauges user tastes with often-unusual questions, like how to spend a three-day weekend. (Photo by Kotaro Sugimoto) Tokyo-based PostCoffee's subscription service sends customers three types of beans per box based on their personal tastes. As with Root C, users answer a seven-item questionnaire that helps narrow down the options from the 40 to 50 available.
Some of the questions are seemingly unrelated to coffee, however, veering off into such topics as vacation destinations or preferred toast toppings.
"There's a gap between what people think they like and what they actually like," CEO Ryo Shimomura said. "We want to help them encounter many different kinds of coffee."
The number of customers signed up to PostCoffee's subscription service has swelled 25-fold since February 2020, before COVID-19 loomed so large. "The coronavirus boosted people's need to make their time and lifestyles at home richer," Shimomura said.
Ogawa Coffee, a producer and wholesaler based in Kyoto, has "coffee laboratories" in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward where baristas give recommendations tailored to customers' tastes and moods, choosing from 20-plus varieties. At the Shimokitazawa location, which opened in July, visitors can learn brewing methods suited to different beans, with demonstrations from baristas.
"It takes more effort than just selling coffee, but consumers have come to demand a special coffee experience, and we want to support them," a company representative said.