Soft conversation and music fill the cafe at NCM Cafe in San Jose, California, but it’s the figure behind the glass that commands the room.
Whether joking about a bathroom break or announcing a new order, the barista’s voice rises above the chatter. Drinks come and go, but no one is behind the counter.
At NCM Cafe, the first cafe in the county to feature an AI-powered robot barista, robot “C” isn’t just a part of the shop—it’s the centerpiece.
As C’s recent debut paves the way for robot baristas to appear in coffee shops across Silicon Valley, some see innovation and novelty.
But in San Jose’s deeply rooted local coffee scene, where shops like Roy’s Station, Nirvana Soul, and Chromatic Coffee Co. take pride in creating a sense of community, some are wondering what’s lost when the human touch disappears.
For Roy’s Station in San Jose’s Japantown, community is part of their identity. Longtime customer Alicia Arranaga, who visits with her daughter two to three times a week, says she thrives off of the experience of meeting new people and making connections. She finds herself coming back for the warm atmosphere, where the same barista talks to her family each visit.
Owner Jasmine Rast recognizes that the sense of community is what sets Roy’s apart. It used to be her grandfather’s gas station—her dad still sweeps the sidewalks, and her mom takes care of the plants. For Rast, interaction with servers is the gem of local businesses.
“Being a barista is more than just making drinks,” says Dap Ashaolu, owner of Nirvana Soul in downtown San Jose. He thinks that providing good customer service by treating people kindly and creating genuine connections is something that people will be better at than robots for a long time.
While robot baristas may not provide the same experience as humans, regulars at NCM may be surprised to find that C recognizes repeat customers through facial recognition technology.
Carlos Alatorre, who enjoys supporting local coffee shops in San Jose and studied artificial intelligence in school, is not fazed by the technology. However, he recognizes that customers in the United States may not be as comfortable. “Would people want their data being used like that, without them knowing?”
In the United States, privacy concerns are more of an issue. Arranaga mentioned that she would not feel comfortable with a robot barista recognizing her face. “What are they doing with that information?”
But the conversation goes beyond just technology. Jacob Inda, a barista at Chromatic Coffee Co. in San Jose, said that “coffee is just as much an art as it can be a job.”
As a self-professed coffee geek, he values the shared experience of pushing further into coffee with others who also love the craft, something a robot cannot recreate.
For Inda, Chromatic represents both a community hub for local artists and regulars and a place to have fun and experiment with coffee together.
The quality of the coffee itself also sets local shops apart, according to Rast, who compares coffee-making to wine-making, with its specific seasons and tailoring the roasting to suit each specific bean. She said a lot of the creativity in the craft is lost when you don’t have someone personally making your drink.
The local coffee culture extends beyond the craft and the larger community down to the one-on-one, personal relationships between barista and customer. As Inda talks about the personal touch a barista offers, a customer stops him mid-thought to give him a warm greeting—a professor who is a regular at Chromatic.
At Red Rock Coffee in downtown Mountain View, barista Jackson Matyas, or Jack as everyone calls him, can’t help but laugh as he spots a familiar face looking at him through the large glass window. This customer isn’t the only one at Red Rock he’s happy to see.
“That’s grandma,” Jack says with a smile as the woman who runs the Hong Kong bakery across the street stops by to say hi. “We give her coffee every morning for free, she gives us pastries for free.”
The imprint of San Jose’s coffee culture is all around, from the local artwork on display at Chromatic and Nirvana Soul, to the vibrant music scene at Red Rock, to the emphasis on quality coffee across them all. As technology evolves through robots like C, it’s the people like Inda, Rast, and Jack, who keep the culture thriving through a shared experience of community and coffee.
