Robots make your coffee and cocktails at this incoming bar/cafe

Photographs: courtesy RATIO

In an age of mobile payment, ticketless metro travel and a potential 2,000kph Shanghai to Beijing train that may one day kill us all, it takes a lot to impress us these days. However, it looks like the team at RATIO are out to wow us with a new drinking experience that allows you to customise your drink down to the smallest detail.

While ordering through WeChat, you can tailor your drink to make it just the way you like it – from the precise measurements of spirits in your cocktail to the proportion of espresso to milk in your coffee. Your personalised formula is then sent on to robots that whip up your drink within minutes, and then you pick it up at the bar – you won’t have to worry about your barista or bartender judging you for your weird drink preferences (like your favourite americano with half soy milk, half skimmed milk, a spoon of artificial sweetener and a medium-sized semi-melted ice cube, or that tequila sunrise sans sunrise).

The AI can also remember your drink order for your next visit and will recommend drinks it thinks you might like based on your tastes. Your phone seems to know everything else about you, so it knowing how boozy you like your mojito shouldn't hurt... Right?

The experience sounds like something out of a futuristic movie, we know. But RATIO founder Gavin Pathross assures us that 'robots and AI are not here to replace humans, they’re just better than humans in performing repetitive work'.

The idea behind RATIO’s obsession with precision is that no two taste palettes are the same and therefore no two drinks should be the same. Each designer concoction is tailor-made to balance the tastes of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami, with over 50 coffee and cocktails for you to make your own.

Intended to be a café during the day and a lounge bar by night, RATIO is set to open at K11 this June, followed by at Raffles City in July. Keep an eye on our website for more details when we get them.

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