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Nespresso Lattissima offers up one-touch cappuccinos and lattes
Stopping by your favorite java shop on the way to work each day can get relatively pricey (and frustrating if you simultaneously roll in with the other half of the city), and while the Nespresso Lattissima can't exactly read your mind, it apparently does one mean latte with just a single button press and a moment of your time. According to SingleServeCoffee, the stunning machine sports a "one touch fresh milk froth function" and also boasts an auto clean mode, detachable milk and water reservoirs, adjustable cup platform, and a twin pump heating system. Moreover, the device can reportedly crank out a cappuccino in "less than one minute," while a latte macchiato takes just 80 seconds. Slated to hit stores this fall, the mostly automated coffeemaker will come in a satin chrome flavor with integrated cup warmer for $799, while the less pricey red and black versions will save you a Benjamin at the expense of that built-in warming feature. Be sure to click through for a video that's so good, you can almost smell it.[Via SingleServeCoffee, thanks Jay]
Darren Murph05.19.2007
News Brews blends RSS feeds into multicultural beverage
Getting updates on the weather and current time is no problem for modern day coffee machines, but Benjamin Brown's project aims to blend the hottest worldwide news into a multicultural cup of joe. Rather than taking time to find out what's going on in the world around you with your eyes, the News Brews hopes to shovel the latest RSS feeds into your brain via your taste buds. The steampunk-inspired device "connects to internet news feeds and parses them to determine the relative frequency at which different coffee growing regions are mentioned," which means that your brew will differ each day depending on how frequently a given country is mentioned. Of course, not everyone will be down with an unexpected coffee suicide of sorts to wake them in the AM, but trying to figure out what your mouth is reading on the drive to work certainly beats running others off the road or illegally texting at stop lights.[Via TechDigest]
Darren Murph05.16.2007
Learning coffee machine on the horizon, could use GPS / RFID
Although a coffee machine that slowly but surely learns your daily preferences in regard to cups of java may sound outlandish, the already-created RFID-enabled refrigerator certainly brings things back into focus. A "provisional patent exploration into coffee machines that learn and react to their users" is underway in Lafayette, Indiana, as James Pappas is hoping to take ubiquitous computing to the next level on coffee makers of the future. While internet-connected and weather-displaying renditions are already on store shelves, Pappas is hoping to utilize some form of GPS / RFID technology to create a machine that learns and adapts to your coffee drinking ways so it can automatically have a white chocolate cappuccino ready and waiting each weekday (except Monday, which is your straight-up black coffee day, right?) without you having to touch a thing. Furthermore, he's hoping to take the idea to the mobile front, as he refers to a cellphone interface to dial-in your next request so that it's ready to go by the time you hit the kitchen. Still, it sounds like the invention is a few years off at best, but serious drinkers better hope this thing automatically alerts you when the beans are running low, too.[Image courtesy of CoffeeToThePeople]
Darren Murph04.24.2007
Two-killowatt laser heats coffee, wows onlookers
Lasers have found their way into the hearts of modders everywhere, and while this latest case doesn't guide missiles or remove hair, it does make a mean cup of joe. All you'll need is a sturdy mug, coffee grinds (or a tea bag, whichever you prefer), a bit of water, and a spare two-kilowatt laser to get things a steamin'. Sure, there's most certainly a few alternatives to accomplish this same task with a lot less hassle, but there's just no substitute to making your office a round of java with a commercial-grade laser. Now, how about we give this a go with a 67-kilowatt version? Click on through for the vid.[Via Hack-A-Day]
Darren Murph03.25.2007
Ristretto coffee mouse brings the beans and the ugly
Thankfully for us, the world's ugliest phone has already been faced and dealt with, and while we've seen quite a few unique mice in our day, this one practically roasts the compoetition for the most unsightly. The Ristretto coffee mouse is a minature critter designed for -- c'mon, you got this -- mousing about in your favorite beanery or java shop, and while we suppose you could view this as a symbol of your unwavering love for entirely overpriced cups of caffine and sugar, we doubt it'll score you any solid conversations outside of awkward Amway plugs. Still, these devices appear to be at least somewhat hand-crafted, as the designer has a bevy of custom desgined models for show, and while we've no idea where you could spend your hard-earned dough on this thing, this looks like a private DIY project at its finest at best.
Darren Murph02.08.2007
Jura-Capresso's Z-Series Cup Warmer preheats mugs for your enjoyment
If you're kicked back enjoying a cup of brew from your recently purchased Melitta ME1MSB coffeemaker, but just can't stop wishing your cold, uninspired coffee mug was a tad warmer on your palms, Williams-Sonoma has your solution. For folks who just need one more gizmo taking up space in the kitchen, the Jura-Capresso Z-Series Cup Warmer provides a heated storage bin for "up to 24 espresso cups or 16 coffee cups" that quickly brings cups to "the optimal serving temperature." The freestanding "accessory" was designed to work with the Impressa Z-series espresso machine, and boasts a convection heating system to get those mugs ready for company. While we're fine with the idea of a toasty cup on a cold, blustery morn, we'd rather rock the ole G-Gloves than throw down $999 for this contraption.[Via Appliancist]
Darren Murph11.27.2006
Konica Minolta's coffee-making "bizhub of the future"
There's really not a whole lot the workplace can offer (or that corporate will allow) to make us want to roll into the office day after day, but Konica Minolta's "bizhub of the future" just might change all that. Besides being the typical "prone to jamming" mega printer that has become a staple of workplaces everywhere, it touts an integrated screen, DVD player, built-in speakers, and even an espresso machine to keep our eyelids peeled. Of course, you can also scan, copy, and fax while you're sipping sucking down that caffeinated goodness, but we don't envision much work getting done with Mike Judge's Office Space rolling on the LCD. Currently, the machine is simply a prototype waiting for production, but if the Michael Scott's of the world all band together, surely we can make the mundane work week seem a bit less humdrum.[Via Pocket-Lint]
Darren Murph11.09.2006
Melitta ME1MSB Smart Brew Coffeemaker gives you the weather
There are often days when we get up in the morning, stare down our coffee machine and think: "You know what would work really well on this thing? A weather display." Thank goodness, because Melitta has just announced its ME1MSB Smart Brew Coffeemaker with MSN Direct. The $250 MSRP coffeemaker (Amazon's got a pre-order for $200, ships on November 15), as you can imagine, brews a mean cup o' joe (perhaps not as strong as this espresso maker), but also displays up-to-the-minute weather information via MSN's FM sub-carrier broadcast network without requiring a subscription -- just plug it in wherever you can get a radio signal (most of the continental US is covered), and off you go to caffeinated meteorological heaven. We think that the ME1MSB will be a fine addition to our kitchen, because it would finally fulfill our dream of adding another way to getting the weather without peeking outside, bellying up to our computers, or reading that archaic RSS reader known among certain scholars as a "newspaper."
Cyrus Farivar09.15.2006