Meet Beanie: The Coffee Bean Who Just Moved Into Specialty Atlas

Until now, Specialty Atlas had a map full of cafés, a passport full of stamps and nobody to say hello when you opened it. Meet Beanie: a coffee bean in a navy knit hat, with our map pin on the cuff. A bean in a beanie. We could not help ourselves.

Beanie arrives with version 2.1 of the app. From now on he is the one who says hello, brews next to you and loses his mind a little when you collect a stamp. Here is a quick tour of where you will meet him, and why a specialty coffee app needed a bean in a hat in the first place.

Why a coffee app needs a mascot?

Specialty coffee has a reputation problem. Walk into the wrong café on the wrong day and a simple question about the menu can feel like an exam. Plenty of people who would love a good washed Ethiopian never find out, because the whole scene looks like it comes with homework.

We built Specialty Atlas to be the opposite of that. Our line is "Specialty. Not snobbery." and Beanie is that line with arms and legs. He has no opinion about your grinder. He does not care if you add milk. He is just glad you showed up.

There is a practical side too. Every app has quiet moments where nobody is talking to you: a list with nothing in it yet, a page that is still loading, a connection that dropped. Those used to be grey boxes. Now there is someone there.

Where you will run into Beanie

On the way in

Open the app after the update and Beanie waves hello. After that he lives in the greeting card at the top of the Hub. Leave him alone for a while and he gets restless: he stretches, looks around, drops his hat and picks it back up. Tap him and he hops.

At the dripper

This is his main job. Start any recipe in Brewing Mode and Beanie stands next to the step you are on, doing it with you. He grinds, weighs the dose, rinses the filter, pours the bloom and gives the dripper a swirl.

On the waiting steps he stares at a stopwatch, which is exactly what you are doing. He also knows his way around an AeroPress (inverted method included), an espresso machine and a milk jug.

In the Lab

The taste quiz is where he shows the most personality. On the gear question he holds up a V60, then a Chemex. Move the roast slider and Beanie gets roasted to match, from pale cinnamon to dark and oily, with steam coming off him at the far end.

Pick the flavour notes you love and you get a chef's kiss. Pick the ones you avoid and he wags a finger at them. Finish the quiz and the hat goes in the air.

In your coffee passport

Collect a new city stamp and Beanie sets off a party popper while confetti comes down the whole screen. Add another café to your Want to visit list right after and he dances. New badges and Coffee Miles get a small celebration too.

When there is nothing to show

Some screens start out empty: no saved cafés, no notifications, no events nearby. Beanie takes that as a cue for a nap, pillow included. If your signal drops or something breaks on our side, he takes his hat off and holds it in both hands. It is the most polite error message we could come up with.

In December

From 15 December until the end of the year, the navy beanie goes in a drawer and a Santa hat comes out.

Drawn for this app, one pose at a time

Beanie is not a stock character pulled from an animation library. Every pose and every movement was drawn and animated specifically for Specialty Atlas. That is why he holds a gooseneck kettle the way a barista would.

He is also considerate. If your phone is set to reduce motion, Beanie respects that and holds still.

How to meet Beanie

Update Specialty Atlas to the latest version, or download it for free on iOS and Android. Open the Hub and he will find you.

If you want the full show, do three things:

1. Take the taste quiz in the Lab.
2. Brew one recipe in Brewing Mode.
3. Rate a visit at a café while you are there and earn a city stamp.

Then tell us which Beanie is your favourite. Ours is the sleepy one.

FAQ

Who is Beanie?

Beanie is the mascot of Specialty Atlas: a coffee bean in a navy knit hat with the Atlas map pin on it. He appears across the app, from the home screen to the brew guides and the coffee passport.

What is Specialty Atlas?

Specialty Atlas is a free specialty coffee app for iOS and Android. It puts specialty cafés and roasters across Europe on one map, matches beans to your taste, walks you through brewing step by step and keeps a passport of the cities where you have had coffee.

Is there an app for finding specialty coffee near me?

Yes. Specialty Atlas shows specialty cafés and roasters around you, with ratings from people who actually visited. You can download it here.

Can I turn Beanie's animations off?

Beanie follows your phone's settings. With reduce motion switched on, he stays in the app but holds his pose instead of moving.

Does Beanie cost anything?

No. Beanie is part of the free app, and so are the map, the brew guides and the passport.