The Clover coffeemaker debuted in a handful
of cafés in 2006 and was promptly hailed as the best thing to happen to coffee
lovers since the car cup holder. With
an $11,000 asking price, the Clover
has become a fetish object among the
coffee- obsessed. Long queues signal
its arrival in new cities, and selfdescribed
“ Cloveristas” post videos
on YouTube demonstrating the
machine’s flashy brewing process.
There are more photos on Flickr paying
homage to this shiny gadget (700
and counting) than actual Clovers in
existence (roughly 250 worldwide).
The Clover is the first
coffeemaker that lets the user program three
key variables: dose, water temperature, and
brew time. (Example: 37.5 grams of Brazilian
Fazenda São João at 204 degrees for 43
seconds.) After the coffee steeps, a piston
mechanism extracts the liquid from spent
beans, resulting in a fresh cuppa in less than
a minute. A filter platform pops a hockey
puck of grounds out of the top, where it’s
easily wiped away. An Ethernet port connected
to an online database is designed
to let users save favorite recipes for specific
beans. Made of stainless steel and copper,
a single Clover typically takes several
hours to assemble by hand.
Clover looks like just another countertop coffee machine. But peek under the hood and you’ll find an innovative brewing system.
Here’s how it works: 1. A barista selects dose, water temperature, and steep time. 2. A piston pulls down the filter platform while
freshly ground coffee is poured into the chamber. 3. Hot water flows into the chamber. 4. The barista briskly stirs the grounds
with a whisk, and the water and beans steep for several seconds. 5. The piston rises, creating a vacuum that separates the brew
from the grounds, then lowers, forcing the joe out of a nozzle below. 6. The piston rises to the surface again, pushing up a disc
of grounds, which are squeegeed away. (source : mathew honan, wired.com)