An Expensive Pot of Coffee

Cambridge University computer scientists have unplugged their famous Internet coffee pot--and turned a profit that many a dot-com might envy.

Spiegel Online of Germany successfully bid $4,750 for the coffee maker in the university computer lab.

The lab set up a video camera in 1991 to save staff from trudging a long distance to the Trojan Room only to find the pot empty. When it was hooked up to the Internet (https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/coffee.html), “this whole cult thing took off,” said Ian Pratt, a lecturer in the department.

The Krupps Pro-Aroma Model 30 coffee maker, which originally cost about $70, was auctioned off on EBay, the lab said.

“The most famous coffee machine in the world is now also the most expensive,” said Spiegel Online, adding that it would feature the coffee maker on its own Internet Web site, at https://www.spiegel.de.