Is there anything more festive than driving down the highway with a gingerbread latte stowed in the cupholder, filling your car with comforting, festive smells? I don’t think so. And while unbearable hipsters like me might make a similar brew at home with our locally-roasted beans and manual espresso makers, this isn’t for everyone.
And that means that most of your road trip brews are probably sourced from drive-thru coffee stops or, even worse: McDonalds. But what if I told you there was a solution for all your coffee maker troubles lying in the heart of this ageing VW?
It was 1959 and Volkswagen offered the Hertella Auto Kaffeemachine, an optional coffee maker in the VW Beetle. pic.twitter.com/hx6gzuK6OR
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) September 21, 2020
Well, there is. It’s called the Hertella Auto Kaffeemaschine and, in 1959, it was the height of in-car luxury.
According to Drive, the coffee maker could be ordered to fit inside a 1950s VW Beetle, where it would clip right onto the dash. Once there, it would run off the car’s electronics to deliver fresh, piping hot coffee whenever you wanted.
But how does it do this? Well, Drive managed to track down someone that owned one of these rare coffee makers a few years back, and it’s a fascinating machine.
The Hertella Auto Kaffeemachine was the first and only known dashboard-mounted coffee maker. Manufactured in 1959 specifically for the Volkswagen Beetle, it came with porcelain cups which could stick to the machine magnetically [read more: https://t.co/tFAauB841Q] pic.twitter.com/U4NGIlPxDi
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 7, 2021
Basically, it plugs into the VW’s cigarette lighter and then pretty much acts like a kettle. You put coffee grounds and water into the pot and then it runs on either 6v or 12v power to heat the water. Once it’s hot and brewed, there’s a little tap to decant the coffee into your favourite cup.
This immersion method of coffee brewing is a bit like making cowboy coffee in a pot over a fire, but a bit less rustic.
There are, of course, loads of newer in-car coffee makers that you can try out today, but they don’t quite have the same charm. Anyway, if you can find some boiling water, the Aeropress will always be the best way to make coffee on the go. Or the Bripe.