Black gold
In the Venn diagram of coffee lovers and supercar lovers, the intersecting section is exactly the audience South African espresso machine maker Super Veloce wants to target. Designed to look like a snarling V12 engine, Super Veloce’s latest release is the Aurum 18ct, a single-espresso maker hand-finished in 18-carat yellow gold and black nickel.
Roughly half the size of an actual 3l V12 engine, the 35kg Aurum is a fitting tribute to the beating heart of supercars. The baseplate is made from jet-black high pressure thermoset carbon fibre, with components made from aerospace-grade 7075 alloy, stainless steel 316 titanium, surgical stainless steel grade 304 and anticorodal 6082 T6. All those technical details might make eyes glaze over, but it results in an imposing beast of a machine that looks ready to satiate the caffeine cravings of petrolheads. The various nods to automotive engines might seem at first frivolous, but most serve an actual purpose – the oil filler doubles as a grappa reservoir and the exhaust pipes are the espresso dispensers.
Super Veloce is only planning to make ten units of the Aurum 18ct, each of which will have a gold-plated plaque with its unique limited edition number. Pricing has not been revealed by expect it to cost a (very) pretty penny.
