The NYTimes has an interesting article about the new wave of super fancy and expensive coffee machines. They discuss a machine called the Clover ($11K) and this cool, bunsen-burner-lookin' siphon contraption.



After reading another article about the Clover (it was featured in concurrent recent issues of both The Atlantic Monthly and The Economist, in fact) Ross and I went to try a $3 cup over at Ritual, where they have a Clover. I felt it was totally "meh." Fun to watch the machine go, though. I'm probably not sophisticated enough to appreciate the nuances of what is meant to be a transcendent coffee experience. And yet, now I'm finding myself itching to head over to Blue Bottle and get the Siphon-brewed cup. What is wrong with me? I think it's because the guy explains how he practiced stirring water so he would know how to stir the coffee just right, and he takes cameraphone pics of his best stirs, and I think, damn, someone who is that into making the perfect cup of coffee and puts that much effort into it- well, shoot. That sounds like someone who can deliver an experience that's worth $5 or so, regardless of what the coffee tastes like.

Unclear when the cafe is opening- I think it's actually today. Their site humorously says "we will be opening our first cafe... on a formerly pee-smelling alley on the corner of Mint and Jessie in downtown San Francisco now excitingly called Mint Plaza." I'm so going there. I know just the pee-smelling alley they mean.

Blue Bottle's got the only Japanese Siphon so far, but to find a Clover near you check out this map on their site. Or, you can watch a video of how it works in case you live in a Clover-challenged town.

Read the NYTimes article