[lukevanoort]

That is absolutely nuts. It would be interesting to try to make one... it doesn't really seem that hard, but maybe I'm overlooking something. An inverted French press is pretty simple to make and could be actuated by just a simple little pneumatic ram. The temperature control just seems to require accurate programming and some decent temperature sensors (and a good heater, I guess)... metering waterflow also seems pretty easy to do with some kind of fast solenoid valve and flow sensors. It wouldn't be pretty and it probably wouldn't be quite as reliable, but I imagine a coffee machine with similar capabilities could be built for much, much less than $11,000. I'm happy with a plain French press, but it would make a fun summer project.