If you're anything like me, you scoff at the very idea of drinking a bean that wasn't grown somewhere in South America and doesn't come carrying a pedigree as good as any thoroughbred racehorse. We Americans have woken up to a new breed of coffee, and what with all the caffeine, we'll probably stay awake. But designer tastes can present a budgetary obstacle.

One coffee chain (Peet's) in Berkeley, California charges $1.70 for a medium sized cup of coffee. At this price, two cups a day, five days a week will cost $68 a month or $816 a year. Ouch.

But what can you do? Return to the bottomless cup of diner dishwater that only passes for coffee and is made by - dare I say - automatic drip? No, of course not. Now that you're hooked on the great coffee made at the local gourmet shop, all you need is to learn to make it at home. Hard? Hardly. With one simple appliance and a bit of practice, you can turn your kitchen into a cafe that will have friends calling to book reservations. And it's all at a fraction of what it costs to drink out.

Introducing: The Press

This clever device makes a strong coffee with an espresso-like cream on top, and all you need to do is boil water, honestly. After placing one heaping tablespoon of coffee per cup into the glass container of your press, you then pour boiling water on top and leave it to sit for one minute. Then gently press down on the plunger top, whose filtered end pushes the coffee grinds down to the bottom and leaves the coffee on top. Pour and serve. It's that simple.