Many images of coffee cups featuring customers’ photos have been recently shared on Instagram. Some thought it to be a visual trick, however, the service is actually available in a cafe in London and another in Singapore.
Singapore's “Selfie Coffee” Cafe offers its guests the chance to drink a "Frappuccino" with a special foam that features their selfies.
The shop is located in the Haji Lane area, and it is the first-of-its-kind to offer such a service since its opening in 2015.
Customers can choose to either snap a selfie on the spot using the cafe’s specially-designed mobile phone, or send one they already have to the counter staff. The staff then prepares the beverage, while the image is uploaded to a designated machine, which proceeds to print the image on a layer of whipped cream in few minutes only.
The shop’s manager explains that the printing technology is similar to the mechanism used to print pictures onto personalized cakes. Colored vegetable oils are used to replicate the colors in the selfies with surprising accuracy and crispness.
However, printing out images on a liquid rather than a solid layer proved to be a bigger challenge, as a firm layer of whipped cream became the edible canvas on which the image rests.
In London and at the Tea Terrace Cafe in the House of Fraser Shopping Mall on Oxford Street, the Frappuccino can also be served in Selfieccino style. Since the coffee shop launched the service, customers come and wait their turn to have a “personal” cup of coffee.
The selfie image can be printed on Frappuccino or hot chocolate. This service is available for an extra five pounds (about $7).
The process takes four minutes. The picture is taken with the smartphone and then uploaded to a special machine; and before the delivery of the coffee, its image will be shared on all social media outlets such as Instagram and Snapchat.
The Tea Terrace owner says that we live in the age of social networking, the drink should not just be served, but it also should be good enough to share on Instagram.
This means that barista's task of decorating coffee cups with a feather or a heart has become an old fashion. Today, the customer is demanding and seeks unusual ideas, and peoples’ rush to try this service is great evidence.
Starbucks cafes last summer launched a new Frappuccino in the form of a rhinoceros, but the Selfieccino has proven to be the best when it comes to creativity. It is important for Starbucks stores to stand up to this kind of challenge and compete to offer the best.
