San Jose International Airport (SJC) has become the first airport to install a Cafe X Robotic Coffee Bar, giving passengers a taste of the future.

According to the company, Cafe X at SJC has been purpose-built to address the pain points of the typical airport coffee experience and features an all-new Robotic Coffee Bar, designed and engineered using insights from running three prototype machines in San Francisco since 2017.

The system, “affectionately nicknamed Peter” (the airport said in a Tweet), is located in Terminal B and is capable of making and serving more than 10 orders simultaneously according to the company.

“With our growing passenger base and a focus on transforming how Silicon Valley travels, we partnered with Cafe X to serve our passengers travelling through the recently-opened Gates 31-36 concourse in Terminal B,” said SJC’s director of aviation John Aitken. “This advanced Robotic Coffee Bar experience is the perfect complement for our state-of-the-art airport and the high-tech region and customers we serve. Cafe X delivers an innovative solution to meet the demand for coffee service, our customers’ most requested concession.”

Cafe X San Jose

The Robotic Coffee Bar features a “welcoming and stimulating” interior design, with modern user-interfaces, hip-hop beats, and a dancing robot.

“I had the idea of a robot making coffee after waiting over 30 minutes for coffee at an airport a few years ago. It’s super rewarding to now be launching our first airport Cafe X location,” said Henry Hu, Cafe X’s Founder and CEO. “We look forward to entertaining travellers with our friendly, dancing robotic barista while saving them from what seems like an eternity of waiting in line for coffee.”

Cafe X at SJC uses locally-sourced ingredients including California-roasted coffee beans from renowned roasters such as Ritual Coffee, Equator Coffees and Intelligentsia Coffee, along with premium ingredients such as Japanese matcha, Oatly, and organic milk from Clover Sonoma. It will also be offering ‘Instagram-famous’ pastries from Third Culture Bakery.

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