A $20,000 coffee maker from Japan

Blue Bottle Café in San Francisco is now serving coffee from the only halogen-powered coffee machine which looks like a machine from a Jules Verne novel.
Called a siphon bar, it was imported from Japan at a total cost of more than $20,000.

The New York Times reports that a cup of coffee from this contraption, which is described as the USA's first halogen-powered model, includes a "kaleidoscopic" range of flavors.

This is basically how the Japanese siphon bar works:

“A siphon pot has two stacked glass globes, and works a little like a macchinetta, that stove-top gadget wrongly called an espresso maker by generations of graduate students.
As water vapor forces water into the upper globe the coffee grounds are stirred by hand with a bamboo paddle. (In Japan, siphon coffee masters carve their own paddles to fit the shape of their palms.) The goal is to create a deep whirlpool in no more than four turns without touching the glass. Posture is important. So is timing: siphon coffee has a brewing cycle of 45 to 90 seconds.”

The machines are imported from a Japanese company that owns a chain of coffee shops called UCC Cafe Plaza.

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This bling encrusted Nespresso Crystal Coffee Machine from Goldstriker International must be a contender.
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• Encrusted with 3100 original Swarovski crystals complete in the colour crystal
• Width: 22.6 cm depth: 23 cm height: 23 cm
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• Removable grill for the preparation of Latte Macchiato

It is priced at £1,995

Via lussorian

Clover Coffee Machine for $11,000

The New York Times used words like "cult object," "majestic," and "titillating"; the Economist called it "ingenious" and "sleek." The subject of these encomiums is, incongruously, a commercial coffee machine—the Clover 1s, an $11,000 device that brews regular coffee (not espresso) one cup at a time.

The Clover's real benefit to coffee-drinkers is the way it combines French press and vacuum methods to produce one of the best cups of coffee. The Clover's "VacuumPress" method, however, creates a vacuum to draw the water down through the grounds, extracting flavor and yet leaving them behind. It precisely makes one cup of coffee at a time, letting you select brewing time and temperature to coax the best flavor out of the particular bean you’re using. The barista pours ground coffee onto an extremely fine filter atop a piston that descends into the machine. After the coffee steeps, the piston rises, creating a vacuum that pulls water through the grounds. The finished coffee flows through a spout into a waiting cup.

This machine is not for mass production but only made on order…each device is built to order by a small Seattle company. It brews coffee like a French press, but it's more dramatic to watch and much more precise. It is equipped with a "PID algorithm" for regulating temperature and "programmable workflow modes" to help micromanage the brewing process.

Via : slate / luxurylaunches