A mismatched cup can ruin latte art, cause coffee to cool faster and disrupt your brand consistency. If you want your café to look professional and your coffee to taste its best, choosing the right ceramics is a decision you can’t afford to leave to chance.

It may seem that a cup is just an ordinary vessel. This could not be further from the truth! It’s no coincidence that in the best cafés, baristas don’t serve espresso in just any cup, and cappuccinos aren’t poured into random glasses. The choice of tableware for a café is a strategic decision that affects not only taste and temperature of coffee but also aesthetics and prestige of the place.

Serving coffee in fixed sizes isn’t just about aesthetics; it also brings real benefits to your business. Consistent cup volumes translate to a better control over food costs, simplify baristas’ work and eliminate accidental disproportions of beverages. As a result, each coffee tastes as intended, and inventory management becomes predictable and more efficient.

A carefully selected cup maintains the coffee’s optimal temperature and prevents it from reacting with the vessel’s surface, preserving the true flavour of your espresso. It’s not only about the barista’s comfort or aesthetics – it directly impacts the customer’s experience.

Well-chosen tableware also affects the visual consistency of the café. The thick walls of the cup maintain the beverage’s temperature, while its ergonomic shape makes it easier to handle, enhancing the overall drinking experience.

Now, let’s look at it more broadly – tableware is not only about functionality, but also about branding. Each café has its own unique character, and tableware is one of the elements that can either highlight it or – if chosen haphazardly – lead to stylistic chaos. A customer walks into a coffee shop, orders a coffee, and instantly evaluates the place by the cup in their hands.. Therefore, you should definitely treat your tableware as your business card.

Quality and design of tableware – what to pay attention to?

First of all, durability. Good ceramics should be fired at a high temperature (about 1300 degrees Celsius), which makes it exceptionally damage-resistant. Cups from reputable manufacturers, such as Loveramics, not only have the right hardness, but also a smooth surface, thanks to which the coffee does not react with the material, and the taste remains clean.

Secondly, the wall thickness. A classic dilemma: thicker cups retain coffee temperature longer, while thinner ones are perceived as more elegant. Loveramics and other high-end brands have found a golden mean by offering cups with a perfectly balanced wall thickness that will keep the beverage warm, but won’t cause third-degree burns at the first sip.

Thirdly, ergonomics. A cup can’t be a random vessel that makes drinking difficult. The handle should be shaped for a comfortable grip, the cup’s centre should be perfect for pouring milk, and its weight must be balanced for easy handling by the barista. That’s why professional tableware is different from random cups – it’s thought-out in every detail.

Fourthly, aesthetics. Choosing a cup is not only a matter of practicality, but also of appearance. Customers love taking pictures of their coffee, and well-designed tableware can become a signature element of the café. Beyond its exceptional quality, Loveramics offers a vibrant selection of colours, making it easy to match the tableware to your unique visual identity. Minimalism? Classic white. Industrial vibe? Dark shades. Hipster aesthetics? Pastel cups from the Egg series. Every decision shapes the image of the café.

Latte art and cup ergonomics – how to match tableware to the type of coffee?

Latte art to nie tylko dowód na to, że barista ma pewną rękę i doświadczenie, ale też Latte art is more than just a testament to the barista’s confident hand and experience – it’s a performance that captivates the customer even before their lips meet the foam. And, of course, every performance needs the right stage—in this case, the cup. After all, even perfectly frothed milk and exemplary espresso may not achieve the desired effect if poured into the wrong cup.

Let’s start with the basics:

Cup shape

A round bottom is the key to success – it allows for an even blend of espresso with milk, and, consequently, smoother, more controlled pouring. That’s why Loveramics and other premium brands design cups specifically for latte art, avoiding sharp angles and abrupt curves that would disrupt the harmony of the design.

Cup volume

  • Espresso: 70–80 ml, a small cup, no milk.
  • Cappuccino:150–200 ml, moderate amount of milk, creamy texture, with a bold coffee flavour.
  • Flat white: 150–200 ml, less foam than in cappuccino, a more distinct espresso flavour.

Latte: 280–350 ml, the most milk, a mild flavour, and light foam

The thickness of the ceramics also matters greatly. Too thin walls in a cup? Indeed, they look elegant, but they dissipate heat much faster. Thicker walls, like those in the Loveramics Egg, not only retain heat but also ensure the barista’s wrist stability – the last thing you want is an accidental tremor turning your rosette into something unsightly.

A well-chosen cup is not only functional but also ergonomic – the barista should feel comfortable holding it, and the customer should enjoy every moment with their coffee. After all, the goal isn’t just to make coffee delicious, but to turn it into an Instagram-worthy work of art.

Aesthetics and branding – colour, consistency and image of the café

You open a café. You have great coffee, an excellent barista and a stunning interior. Is that enough? Well, no. In fact, if the customer gets their cappuccino in a random cup, all this carefully structured aesthetics can come crashing down.

Tableware is more than just a vessel, it’s part of the image. A premium café can’t afford random cups, just like a luxury restaurant would never serve lobster on a plastic supermarket plate. That’s why tableware from brands like Loveramics comes in a variety of colours and shapes – so that each café finds something that aligns with its unique identity.

The colour scheme of tableware is not a whim; it’s psychology. White is universal and makes the colours of the coffee pop, but if your café has an industrial vibe, dark, matte cups might be a better choice to add a touch of ruggedness. Or the contrary, you might want to consider pastels that will create a cosy atmosphere and make customers feel like in a home away from home.

You must also keep in mind the importance of brand recognition. In a well-designed café, tableware becomes a branding element – a custom-coloured cup or one with a subtle, characteristic logo, make customers recognise the café from the very first photo on Instagram. You can serve the same coffee as your competitors, but if your style is unique, the customers will come back to you.

The ideal tableware – what to consider?

The tableware in the café is not merely a detail, it is a key element of the experience you offer – on par with the quality of the beans and the barista’s skills. It affects the aesthetic reception, work ergonomics and the final taste of coffee, because a well-chosen cup is not only a carrier of the drink, but also part of the ritual. Choosing the right tableware is an investment that pays off through better drink presentation, enhanced customer comfort, and a cohesive, recognizable café image.

While there are many ceramics manufacturers on the market, if you’ve ever noticed the cups featured in top specialty cafés worldwide, one name stands out: Loveramics. And that’s no coincidence. The baristas who really know their stuff have been supplied by this brand for years. Loveramics cups have perfectly thick walls, keeping the coffee warm longer, while their ergonomic shape allows baristas to pour latte art with precision.

Loveramics’ hallmarks are also design and versatility – their collections cover a wide range of colours, which means that you can match the tableware to your coffee shop’s visual identity. Are you into industrial black? There it is. Subtle Scandinavian-style pastels? Done. Or maybe classic, elegant white? No problem. In addition, the company regularly releases new collections, so if you want to surprise your customers with a fresh look, there’s no need to replace all your tableware – just add a new accent.

Equally important are availability and price. Loveramics offers premium tableware at a price that won’t break the bank. It’s widely available, which is crucial in the coffee industry – you don’t have to spend months searching for replacements if a few cups break (yes, it happens).

If you run a café and need tableware that combines durability, great design, perfect latte art properties and accessibility – you can never go wrong with choosing Loveramics. That is why it sits on the tables of the best specialty cafés in the world. And if the best choose Loveramics, there’s probably a good reason for it, right?

Loveramics is so much more than a practical choice for coffee tableware: it also looks great on your café’s sales shelf. Captivated by the beautiful ceramics, customers often want to take a cup home or buy one as a gift. Good coffee and an aesthetic cup? The perfect duo that practically sells itself.

Author

Project Manager at Coffeedesk, who finds a balance between precise management and creative content creation. He follows the principle of "Where there's a will, there's a way" at work. Beyond the coffee shops, he's a tireless traveler, law student, gastronomy enthusiast, and incorrigible coffee lover.