Artly Coffee and its friendly neighborhood robot Baristas are headed to San Diego soon. A recent permit filing places the tech-forward coffee shop at Fashion Valley Mall to showcase its unique AI-powered, craft coffee experience.
Husband and wife founders Meng Wang and Yushan Chen moved on from their roles in tech and decided to combine their passion for coffee with their professional background in AI and robotics to create Artly Coffee in 2020.
Headquartered in Seattle, Artly Coffee has been growing in Portland and the Bay Area. VP of Business Operations, Daniel Lee tells What Now San Diego the company has decided to jump to San Diego next. “We’re skipping LA and heading to San Diego. We love San Diego and we thought it would be a great fit,” shares Lee.
Chief Coffee Officer and Artly Coffee’s secret weapon, Joe Yang, has created all of the recipes for the brand, oversees the Seattle roasting facility, and has represented Artly on the coffee world stage as a competitive Barista. Yang recently won the US Brewers Cup and placed in the 2nd position for Latte Art at the 2023 US Coffee Championship.
Artly understands that customers won’t keep coming back unless the coffee itself is of the best quality which is why the company takes great care and precision to supply the best possible product to its locations.
“We specialize in single-origin, Guatemalan, and Ethiopian beans, that are roasted on demand. There’s no big warehouse where we roast and store our coffee. When one of our sites needs beans, we call up our roastery in Seattle, and Joey Yang roasts and ships the beans within 2 days,” shares Lee.
Artly’s AI Baristas take automation to another level. Its Barista robots have been programmed with the ability to create beautiful latte art that rivals the hard-to-learn craft, taught by Yang himself using motion-capture and VR equipment to record each wrist and arm movement in creating the perfect, visually-pleasing art.
“The robots arm physically acts like a human arm, following a step-by-step process,” Lee explains. A camera on the robotic arm scans QR codes associated with each step of the coffee-creation process and gives quality checks throughout. “There are no shortcuts. We use La Marzocco, the highest-quality Italian espresso machine. The robot checks the grind of the beans, monitors shot time for a perfect espresso shot, and uses a scale to dispense the perfect amount of milk, syrup, and ice for every drink. The camera also checks if any bubbles formed on steamed milk before it finishes the drink with latte art.”
Guests can choose from traditional espresso-based drinks, as well as award-winning cold brew, and signature drinks like the Honey Rose Latte, Strawberry Matcha Latte, or Rose Yuzu Refresher.
Artly Coffee is preparing to launch its first San Diego location on the second floor of Fashion Valley Mall, across from the food court, in Q4 of 2023. See its AI Baristas in action by following Artly Coffee on Instagram.
