Would Montanans Trust Coffee From a Shop Like This?

When I was a teenager, the TV show 'Friends' was really popular and that meant I thought coffee culture was so cool. At the time, there weren't a ton of coffee shops in Missoula or Montana for that matter. I remember being so surprised when I left Montana and found cities with tons of coffee shops--and more than just Starbucks. 

Related: 6 Ways Missoula Montana Changed in the 20 Years I've Been Gone

In the time since I've moved back, of course, Montana has gained tons of coffee shops. We just talked about the grand opening of the new Florence Coffee Drive-Through next to our radio station building.

We had reviews of pumpkin spice lattes at some of the coffee shops around Missoula.

• Drum Coffee
• Good Americano
• City Brew Coffee
• Break Espresso
• Wheat Montana

We talked about Black Rifle Coffee opening in Western Montana, a coffee shop founded by veterans. Well, there's a new kind of coffee shop that has opened in Wisconsin that makes me wonder: would Montanans ever trust a coffee shop like this?

Octane Coffee - a new automated coffee shop

What's interesting about the new coffee shop in Waukesha, Wisconsin? Nearly the entire operation is automated.

In a story from tmj4news on Instagram, we are introduced to the shop that only requires an employee to restock supplies. Everything else about the operation is automated.

Before you say, "That will only happen someplace else," keep in mind there is already automated food preparation in Montana. We had a story not too long ago about the automatic bread machine in Stevensville, Montana. But would people trust a machine to make their coffee? 

The representative from Octane Coffee says in the video, "Every drink that we make, every coffee extraction is a chemistry experiment. If you don't control the variables, you're going to have a bad time." 

Related: Are Montana Supermarkets Being Taken Over By Robots? Take a Look

Selling the proprietary robotics technology to other businesses appears to be the goal, not creating a chain of coffee shops. The representative explains, "Whether it's restaurant owners, coffee shop owners, and just people in the food industry in general, they cannot find enough people to work. There's no shortage of customers. There's no shortage of food to be made and drinks to be served. There's just no labor force there." 

I could see where this would certainly help out local businesses that are short on employees. But would that be enough for Montanans to order automated coffee?