The Latte Everyone Will Instagram This Summer
Turmeric lattes and “Aspen gold” cake pops are going to dominate your social feeds.
(Bloomberg) -- Get ready to see a lot of pink peacock lattes this summer.
The Pantone Color Institute, arbiter of hues around the world, will open the doors of Café OLED in collaboration with LG Electronics USA in SoHo on July 12. The three-day pop-up cafe is the perfect spot for everyone who’s grown tired of Museum of Ice Cream selfies.
The project is designed to highlight four colors from the Pantone Institute’s summer 2019 color trend report: yellow-green “pepper stem,” “turmeric,” “Aspen gold” and “pink peacock.”
The colors weren’t just picked because they’re (mostly) food-focused; they reflect the public’s increasing interest in the environment.
“Trends in color reflect what is taking place in the culture,” said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute. “This is the first time we have illustrated the relationship between color trends we are seeing in fashion with color trends being shown for food.”
The cafe will have about 16 seats but isn’t designed for customers to hang out on their laptops. There will be four separate interactive “vignettes,” on OLED TVs, one for each of the featured colors. There will, of course, be a photo booth.
Coffee drinks have been designed to give the colors a corresponding culinary profile. The hard-to-ignore pink peacock will feature an unorthodox combination of beets and maple; Aspen gold is comprised of lemon and vanilla; pepper stem gets its green hue from matcha mixed with honey; and turmeric is a mix of the ubiquitous spice with ginger and chile powder.
Colorful pastries will be provided by the Flour Shop’s Amirah Kassem. The baker’s flamboyant desserts, such as the candy-filled “explosion cake,” have earned her 245,000 Instagram followers and clients such as Beyoncé and Katy Perry.
For Café OLED, Kassem is creating treats that “color outside the lines.” Specifically, cake pops and balls in the featured colors and flavors. Fingers crossed that a pink peacock exploding cake will make an appearance at some point.
It’s not the first time a brand has turned to eye-popping colors for a sales hit. Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino, resplendent in pink, was a big hit in April 2017. Former Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz credited the drink with driving traffic to stores while it was on offer.
SoHo is quickly becoming a Las Vegas-style launch pad for concept cafes. In the fall, the dating app Bumble will open its first eatery and wine bar in the hood. Michelle Fernandez, senior director of home entertainment brand marketing at LG Electronics USA, sees the cafe as a way to sell the company’s OLED TVs. Asked about the potential social media impact, Fernandez replied, “Our expectations are quite high for this event, and our hashtag is #SeeExtraordinaryColor.”
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Petri at jpetri4@bloomberg.net
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