Matchmaking with a twist: Londoners find love in their cappuccino froth

05 February 2017 - 02:00 By ELIZABETH SLEITH
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

If you're looking for love in the digital age, then why swipe right on Tinder when you can just take a sip?

That appears to be the logic behind a recent arrival on London's pop-up scene.

A singles-only coffee shop called Espresso Yourself opened for two days late last month, using 3D printing tech to etch eligible faces into coffee foam as a way to help people possibly find their match.

The shop - opened in a shipping-container pop-up mall called Boxpark in Shoreditch, London - invited singles to come and order something caffeine-fuelled and fancy to drink - with the face of a potential match etched into the foam.

story_article_left1

The menu was courtesy of dating website match.com, which chose eight different Match members (four male and four female) to present floating on top of the steamy drinks.

Depending on their leanings, customers could choose either a "chappuccino" or "femmericano", with the interests of the person printed on the outside of the cup - along with the website link to getting in touch if they made anyone's heart race.

As match.com's "love expert" Vicki Burtt explained: "More of our members are choosing to go on coffee dates. We wanted to make finding a date as simple as ordering a coffee."

She added that they wanted to encourage "singles to have the confidence to be bold and put themselves out there in a way they hadn't before".

Hence, those who didn't fancy any of the bachelors and bachelorettes who had been pre-selected for printing by match.com could get their own face printed on a drink - by ordering a "Selfee", of course - and simply hand it to someone they liked the look of.

The unusual profile pics were made by a printing machine called Ripples that creates tiny ripples in the foam, using a blend of 3D and inkjet printing technology.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now