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