At last, a brilliant brew

But a seismic change is on the way in this highly caffeinated world. Drip coffee is getting a serious upgrade, thanks to a new machine called the Clover. A high-tech gadget that looks like a cross between a water cooler and a microwave (and it's the size of a small one), the Clover brews a single cup of coffee at a time, to order, through a process that allows the barista to adjust the brewing to fit the flavor profile of specific lots of coffee.

Coffee brewed in the Clover has the depth of flavor of a French-press brew with none of the sediment; it has a clarity and focus, even an elegance, that you just don't experience with other brewing methods.

And the price for a cup of such brilliant coffee? Two bucks. At least that's what it costs (for most brews) at the new downtown branch of Groundwork Coffee Co., which has the only Clover in operation so far in Los Angeles. Not bad, when you consider that the machine costs a cool $11,000.

But there are more on the way. A new coffee shop with plans to open in May in Silverlake will house two of them, and Groundwork has plans for two more. There are two in San Francisco (Ritual Coffee Roasters just installed them); ironically, Seattle has only one. There are a total of 68 Clovers in the U.S., many of them owned by coffee roasters.

Meanwhile, at the new downtown Groundwork last week, customer Ted Humphrey was excited to find the Clover -- he had heard about it, he said, and had made three trips trying to find the coffeehouse that had it. He waited as the barista, Shawna Whitlock, prepared his cup of Malacara from El Salvador.

She ground the beans in a burr grinder, poured the ground coffee into the top of the Clover, and pressed a button. About a minute later, the coffee poured into a waiting ceramic cup. Humphrey sipped -- and was impressed. "It's a really great cup," he said. "There's no bitterness, but it's not stripped down either, and it's got terrific finish."