San Francisco's $20,000 Coffee Maker
Leave it to San Francisco to experiment with a new way to brew the perfect cup of java. Coffee nervana? Perhaps, if you can believe the publicity.
Called a siphon bar, it was imported from Japan by San Francisco’s newly opened Blue Bottle Café at a total cost of more than $20,000. The cafe has the only halogen-powered model in the United States, and getting it here required years of elliptical discussions with its importer, Jay Egami of the Ueshima Coffee Company.
Professionals have long been willing to pay prices in the five figures for the perfect espresso machine, but the siphon bar doesn’t make espresso - It makes brewed coffee. Here’s how it works: A siphon pot has two stacked glass globes. As water vapor forces water into the upper globe, the coffee grounds are stirred by hand with a bamboo paddle. The goal is to create a deep whirlpool in no more than four turns without touching the glass.
Siphon coffee has a brewing cycle of 45 to 90 seconds. Is it really “all that?” James Freeman, owner of the Blue Bottle, is betting it is. And he may be right. Another system, the $11,000 Clover, has been gaining in popularity. Still something of a cult object with just over 200 machines scattered around the world, it makes one cup at a time. But it might soon become a common sight: Starbucks has just bought two.
Dawn and I plan on dropping by the Blue Bottle next time we’re in the City. I’ll let you know if we think the siphon bar really brews the perfect cuppa.
Doug
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Reader Comments (10)
How much does a cup from this contraption cost? I have heard different amounts, all high.
Good question, Drexel. I checked with Michele at Blue Bottle's main office who said she believes it costs $11 for a pot (serves two) and is accompanied by a small chocolate. She suggested I contact the cafe directly to fact check, but so far I've been unable to reach them. If I learn more I'll post it either here in comments or as an update.
Doug
My friend Ryan shot a video there. You can watch it here.
At $11 it works out to $3-$4 per cup, about right for San Francisco I guess. I'll stick to my Starbucks.
Dunkin' Donuts. Best coffee anywhere.
I find it intyeresting that people will spend so much money for a cupf coffee. I thopught Starbucks was crazy charging what they do, but people aren't buying cups of coffee, they are hooked on sugar drinks loaded with fat. This new one is a cup of coffee. How can it be sold for so much. I suppose they have to get back what they paid for the machine. But whp pays $11.00 for a pot of coffee to have with their breakfast?
People who are as you say hooked on the sugar/caffeine fix or have too much idle time. I understood expresso. I don't get this. I hope when you go, Doug, you post what the big deal is. I bet it's not all that.
1. I cannot see myself stopping by the local coffee house and ordering a bagel and a POT of coffee.
2. The article implies that the flavor changes every minute as it cools. It says that you "wouldn't want to drink an espresso that had been sitting for 20 minutes." Yet they serve you a pot; how fast must you drink the whole pot to properly "experience" the $11 flavor?
3. The cafe is getting a lot of press (so would you if you just plunked down $20k for a coffee maker!) but will that translate into profit once all the lookieloos have sampled the goods?
Makes you wonder....
We can't wait to read your review of the coffee from this devise.
HI Doug,
Thanks for the mention in your blog. Just for the record the owners name is James not jim. A pot of siphon brewed coffee ranges from 10-13 dollars and serves 2-3 people. The price difference depends on the varietal.
Hope you stop by the next time your in town.
Katie Booser
General Manager
Blue Bottle Coffee Company