How does custom latte art sell affordable specialty coffee?
Manner Coffee baristas have drawn attention online by fulfilling customer requests for custom latte art, from hearts and tulips to rabbits, squirrels, unicorns, lions and swans. Customers leave notes with their orders, and some bring their own bowls to be filled. The combination of accessible prices, specialty quality and attentive service has built a following among young consumers and office workers in China.
The drink itself stays simple: espresso and steamed milk, with the pattern as the visible proof of skill. Good coffee manner in service, meaning speed, courtesy and willingness to take a request, is what turns a routine purchase into something people photograph and share. That word-of-mouth matters for a chain positioning itself between cheap convenience coffee and higher-priced specialty coffee bars.
Manner Coffee has been steadily gaining fans in the coffee community thanks to its reputation for being tasty yet affordable with high cost-performance, and recently baristas' fancy latte art skills have sparked heated discussions online. From basic hearts and tulips to animal figures like rabbits, squirrels, and unicorns, customers' custom requests are being fulfilled one by one—some even bring their own bowls to "order" coffee and request latte art. This model combining accessible prices with specialty quality, plus baristas' thoughtful and adorable service, has quickly made Manner popular among young consumers and white-collar workers. This article takes you through those highly recognizable signature latte art works and explains how Manner's "affordable specialty" philosophy is influencing the domestic coffee market.
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Manner has always been active in the coffee scene with an image of being tasty, affordable, and high cost-performance, and recently it has gained a large number of fans because baristas have been showing off their latte art skills.
Not long ago, a netizen posted a note on Xiaohongshu titled "I want to see what on earth you Manner is going to pour for me," with a photo showing three baristas gathered in a circle, all staring intently at a cup of coffee being given latte art. The scene was so cute that the netizen pressed the shutter and shared the photo of this cup of coffee.
Not long after the note was posted, it attracted many coffee lovers, who all shared in the comments the exclusive latte art they had received at Manner, as if "showing off" their trophies.
From the works shared by netizens, the patterns include not only common basic designs such as big white hearts, tulips, and multi-layered hearts, but also many animal cartoon figures: rabbits, squirrels, seahorses, unicorns, lions, swans, butterflies... The level of intricacy is astonishing, and the sheer variety makes people sigh, "The baristas probably wish they could make a different latte art every day."
To "challenge" Manner's baristas, this generation of netizens not only freely improvises on their own cups when "ordering" coffee, but also makes all kinds of custom requests for latte art, hoping that highly skilled baristas can "depict freely." Thus, these highly recognizable signature latte art works came into being. Let's enjoy them below~
Latte "art" in a self-brought bowl
Give life a "heart"
Isn't this "little figure" just copied over?
Question: What pattern is suitable for latte art on a cappuccino?
Answer: A paw
Netizens nicknamed it "spicy rabbit head"
A barista striving to replicate their own "inverted triangle" LOGO
Besides those highly convincing unique designs, of course there are also many works that require a certain amount of imagination
Unlike the "third place" created by Starbucks, and also different from Luckin's "cheap and generous portions," Manner focuses on balancing "high cost-performance" with "specialty coffee," forming its own unique style and quickly breaking out among young consumers and white-collar workers.
As an emerging brand that has attracted much attention in recent years, Manner began adhering to the concept of "affordable coffee" early on, launching the "bring your own cup and get 5 yuan off" coffee "order" campaign, which has greatly influenced the perceptions of many coffee lovers. It can be said to be a pioneer and driver of affordable specialty coffee in China.
Besides accessible prices and the pursuit of good taste, baristas' thoughtful and adorable service is also a bonus point Manner has earned for itself. Just imagine: a 15-yuan hot latte is not only tasty and comes with latte art, but can even satisfy all kinds of small requests—this should be one of the biggest surprises Manner baristas bring to everyone.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
