$11,000 coffee maker now a bargain

Today's New York Times includes a story on brewed coffee that mentions the new coffee-producing device -- the term "coffee maker" being far too prosaic for this brass-trimmed wonder -- at the Blue Bottle Cafe in San Francisco. (If you haven't had the pleasure of drinking Blue Bottle's coffee outdoors by the water on a chilly morning at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, you can approximate the experience at home by ordering some of their beans. They're fantastic. Of course, closer to home, so are the Terroir beans brought to us by Acton coffee maestro George Howell, who also appears in the story.)

Said coffee-producing device, called a siphon bar, resembles the bumper of a spaceship, or an invention created by a mad scientist from the future who's stuck in mid-century America due to a botched time travel experiment. It's both beautiful and ridiculous. Of course, I would love to try the bean-based elixir -- the term "coffee" being far too prosaic for this beverage -- it produces.

Have I mentioned that the siphon bar costs $20,000? And even if you have a spare 20 thou and want one for your very own, you will still have to prove you are worthy.

Says the Times story of the machine, which is imported from Japan, "Getting it here required years of elliptical discussions with its importer, Jay Egami of the Ueshima Coffee Company.

“'If you just want equipment you’re not ready,' Mr. Egami said in an interview. But, he added, James Freeman, the owner of the cafe, is different: 'He’s invested time. He’s invested interest. He is ready.'”

Wax on, wax off.

The siphon bar makes the coffee obsessive's device du hier, the Clover 1s, look like an economy-minded purchase. It costs $11,000. And it has a definite advantage the siphon bar does not: There's one here in Boston. Velouria Espresso, on Centre Street in JP's Hyde Square, brews with a Clover (and uses Terroir beans).

If you'd like your own high-end coffee-producing device and are deemed unready for a siphon bar, the Clover might be your machine. According the Clover website, you can get one from Fazenda Coffee Company in Needham. (I called to ask exactly how much it would cost through them but got voicemail, so you'll have to do your own leg work; sorry.)

For travelers, the Clover site has a handy map of the US telling you where to find a cafe featuring one of its machines. For the coffee lover pondering a move, it might not be the worst way to choose your new hometown.