A couple of weeks ago I was in Fairhaven, Washington, killing some time, you know, no big deal. It was one of those bookstores that smells like soup, because bookstore cafes seem to always serve soup. Well, I walk in, and the first thing I hear is that unmistakable screeching sound of poorly steamed milk. The whole bookstore with its soup smell and milk screeching. It’s still a thing, improperly steamed milk, and that’s why the world needs inventions like the O2 Perfect Foam.
The o2 Perfect Foam, making its UK debut at the London Coffee Festival, is a Belgian-born automated milk frother. Add it to your list of “things you need because you don’t just buy a super-automatic espresso machine but still want all the nice things about super-automatic espresso machines”.
o2 was invented by Jans Adriaens in 2014, and spent three years in development. It was released in Belgium six months ago and is now making its way around the UK and Europe.
The machine has its own proprietary steaming pitchers with RD chips fastened the the bottom. The pitcher chips communicate with the steaming brains and will automatically begin steaming based on parameters set by the user. The user can control the total frothy time, steamy time, and temperature. The machine knows when there’s too little milk in the pitcher, or too much, or if the milk is frozen. MILK FREEZES SOMETIMES!
The machine joins a category of single-purpose super-automated milking machines, sidling up to the likes of UberMilk and the Juggler. Like all of these things out in the wild, there’s some sound and true arguments for robotizing something to produce consistent, reliable results. Its applications for restaurants, hotels, and those gadget-lovin’ tech offices might make more sense than a high-end cafe. When we sent out a video on Instagram emotions ran high.
We don’t think this the nail in the coffin of the craft and artistry found in high-end cafes. This could be the beginning for decent frothing at soup cafe bookstores!
The machine is available in the UK and Belgium and priced at £3800. Check out more at the official website.
Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.
