The Herald tested the machine by printing a photo of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, partner Clarke Gayford and their newborn baby Neve on a coffee to celebrate her birth.
The barista makes the coffee and then the customer sends the image from the Ripple app on their phone to the Ripple maker. The coffee is put under the machine and the image is printed on the coffee using a 3D-image ink jet using a coffee extract in about 10 seconds.
Peter Buffalora, whose company Coffee Cloud Ltd is the New Zealand distributor, said his stand at Fine Food New Zealand had been packed with people wanting to try it out. They were either downloading their own images such as selfies or selecting images already uploaded onto the Ripple Maker.
"As long as the image they are sending is a good resolution then it will come across really, really well."
While the Ripple Maker has been showing off its talent with frothy lattes and flat whites, images can also be printed on nitro-brewed coffee and cocktails and, shortly, even beer.
The Ripple Maker has been available in Europe and America for about 18 months and has been used in marketing campaigns by brands including Hilton Hotels, Shangri-La, The Four Seasons, Starwood, Google and Microsoft. It was only launched in New Zealand this week because the manufacturer was struggling to keep up with the overseas demand.
More than 300 exhibitors are at the show.
US-headquartered Dallas Corporation is showcasing how to extend the life of cooking oil, while vanilla vodka from Niue and Malaysian functional food and lifestyle products are on display for the first time.
Kaitahi Frozen Superfood Smoothy Drops won the show's innovation awards with its frozen smoothie blends which include traditional Māori ingredients such as kūmara, pūhā and kawakawa.
The show finishes on Tuesday.
