At Compass Coffee, we’re driven by two things: creating the best experiences for our customers and finding innovative ways to do it.

That’s why this holiday season, we’re thrilled to debut something we’ve dreamed of for years but could never quite pull off: festive, holiday-themed coffee cups. As you can see in the picture above, they’re colorful, fun, unmistakably holiday—and they wouldn’t have been possible without the help of AI. Shoutout to Max, our awesome Cafe Manager at Chinatown, for the delicious almondmilk chai latte in my hand!

A Creative Process Reinvented

This holiday season, we wanted to take things up a notch. Our customers already love the custom art on our Holiday Blend tins, and we wanted to bring that same festive cheer to the cups they drink from every day. It was an exciting idea, but as Joel, our head of design, and I sat down to figure out how to make it happen, reality hit hard.

We’re already working well beyond our bandwidth—launching holiday drinks, planning Black Friday, opening new cafes, and managing the day-to-day operations of Compass Coffee. Creating custom holiday cups felt like one of those wonderful ideas we’d have to shelve for later. It was hard to imagine how we could execute this project well with our small team and the limited time we had.

That’s when Joel had a lightbulb moment. “We’ve been looking at so much new AI,” he said. “Why don’t we try that?”

With that spark, the wheels started turning. Joel dove into Midjourney, an AI-powered image generation tool, and the results were extraordinary. With these few simple steps he created stunning patterns that captured the warmth and excitement of the holiday season—all while holding true to Real Good Coffee standards. Because at Compass, everything we do has to be as good as the coffee.

From Prompt to Perfect Cup

Here’s how you can turn AI-generated patterns into cups you can sip from:

Step 1: Open up Midjourney. The interface might feel a little weird at first, and it uses a slightly different prompting language than Chat GPT, but you’re smart, you’ll get the hang of it with some practice. Start typing prompts and tweak them until you find a pattern you like.

Step 2: Once you find a pattern you like, export the pattern to Adobe Illustrator. Vectorize your pattern—basically, this means turning your image into lines and shapes so you can resize or edit it without losing quality. Want to move some snowflakes around, make them bigger, or add some extra sparkle? Go for it.

Step 3: Apply your design to a dieline. A dieline is like a blueprint for the cup, showing how your art will wrap around. Import your vector art, stretch it, adjust it, and make sure everything fits just right.

Step 4: Create 3D mockups. Use Adobe Dimension to model how your art will look on an actual cup. At Compass, each size cup (like 8oz, 12oz, and 16oz) has slightly different proportions, so we make sure to double-check that the designs look great from all angles before committing to buying a truckload of them.

Step 5: Order with confidence! Once your dieline is off to the supplier, all that’s left is the hardest part—waiting. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

Holiday Magic, Made Possible

The end result? Festive holiday cups our customers genuinely love. The holiday season in Washington D.C. is one of the best times of the year, and we’re excited to give our customers something that adds a little extra magic to their day. Whether it’s a gingerbread latte or a peppermint mocha, these cups make those long-anticipated seasonal flavors feel even more special. More than just a fun design, we hope they show our customers that we’re always thinking about them and finding new ways to make their day better.

This project wasn’t just about creating beautiful cups. It was about rethinking how we approach big, time-intensive projects as a small DC coffee roaster with a scrappy team. We're able to move quickly on projects like this because we partner with a local supplier for our cups, keeping our supply chain here in America. As a veteran in business, it’s always been very important to work with American suppliers whenever it’s possible. By using AI technology such as Midjourney, Joel and I were able to turn what once felt like an impossible task into something exciting and achievable, helping us do our job better and faster. Of course, AI can’t do it all on its own—it’s not replacing the creative eye… yet.

We Brew Innovation: It’s in Our DNA

At Compass Coffee, we believe in embracing innovation to overcome challenges and create better experiences for our customers every day. Whether it’s using cutting-edge roasting technology to craft the perfect blend, using Midjourney’s AI to enhance our designs, or Spellbook’s GPT-4 to cut legal fees, we see technology as a tool to bring more joy, connection, and quality to our work.

These festive cups are more than just a design triumph—they’re a testament to how technology can unlock possibilities we once thought were out of reach, paving the way for even more creativity and innovation.

As you enjoy your favorite Compass Coffee this holiday season, we hope these cups bring a smile to your face and a little extra magic to your day.

From our family to yours, happy holidays!