Great coffee is in the Clover

BY POLLY CAMPBELL | PCAMPBELL@ENQUIRER.COM

In the world of fine coffee, the hottest thing to come along since insulated coffeepots is the Clover coffee maker.

A gleaming stainless steel piece of fancy engineering from a small Seattle company, a Clover makes brewed coffee one cup at a time. A Clover machine costs $11,000. The Clover company could cost Starbucks several undisclosed millions.

Because of its expense, very few coffee shops have one. Because of the company's new owner, very few independent coffee shops ever will.

Starbucks will probably be installing the machines nationwide within a few years, and it is now testing them in Boston and other big cities. For now, there are only two Clover machines in Ohio, and one is at Rohs Street Cafe, the fair-trade-only, nonprofit coffee shop in Clifton Heights. (Staufs Coffee Roasters in Columbus is the other.)

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