It’s unclear whether you’re supposed to drink the coffee that comes out of the Royal Coffee Maker, or invest it. Putting Kopi Luwak (the world’s most expensive coffee bean) to shame is the latest product to come out of Royal Paris — it’s a 24-karat gold (or silver) coffee maker that features a balancing siphon brewer made of crystal and semi-precious stone that will set you back a cool $10,000. So if you’re willing to stop drinking Starbucks for the rest of your life, maybe you can justify this purchase to yourself.
Precious metals aside, part of the price tag is attributed to the extremely limited numbers of Royal Coffee Makers that will be made available (which, to be fair, is also probably linked to relatively low demand for a machine that costs about the same amount as some cars). At the highest end, this particular coffee maker could cost you up to $18,600. According to Royal Coffee, the extravagant cost is linked to the 50 hours of “painstaking workmanship” that must be done by hand.
As the name suggests, the Royal Coffee Maker is meant to transport customers to yesteryear, a time when coffee was not enjoyed by every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wanted to use a public restroom and felt compelled to make a purchase in return, but was rather a ceremonial drink meant for monarchs and the like.
“Turning the art of brewing coffee into a ceremony, ground coffee is first placed in the fine Baccarat crystal carafe, hot water poured into the boiler pot and the Baccarat burner vase, lit,” Royal Coffee explained. “Next, the fully automated system allows heat, steam, and gravity to brew the coffee in the crystal Baccarat vase.” So yeah, this ain’t your grandma’s Folgers.
But does the taste live up to the cost?
The Paris-based company certainly thinks so. Because the coffee is brewed at the “perfect temperature” and there is no room for coffee’s aromatic oils to escape, your cup of joe is “crystal clear with unrivaled aroma and flavor.” Moreover, the Royal Coffee Maker claims to be the only one that allows you to add liqueurs and spices to your coffee or tea before you brew.
“It’s taken us more than three years of research and development to produce this entirely unique coffee maker,” says Maria Tindemans from Royal Paris. “This luxury coffee machine is an elegant echo of the opulent age of salon coffees when only the best coffee was reserved for the rich and famous. And unlike today’s modern coffee machines, a Royal leaves nothing to chance. Every minute process is an exact science and every coffee made is unlike anything you’ll ever taste.”
