# Alpha Dominche Steampunk Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/steampunk/ Last updated: 2026-10-19 > The Steampunk is a programmable café brewer from Alpha Dominche. Steam pressure pushes hot water up through a metal filter into a glass brewing chamber, steam bubbles stir the coffee or tea as it steeps, then condensing steam makes a vacuum that pulls the drink back down through the filter. It brews up to four cups at once and was first shown at the 2012 SCAA Expo. ## At a glance - Category: Machines, Pods & Commercial (Hybrid) - Difficulty: Beginner - Origin: United States, 2012 - Also known as: Steampunk brewer, Alpha Dominche, Steampunk coffee machine ## Steps 1. **Choose the recipe**: The barista picks or programs a recipe, setting the temperature, steep time and agitation. 2. **Fill with water**: Steam pressure from the boiler pushes hot water up from the lower chamber, through the metal filter, into the glass brewing chamber. 3. **Add the coffee and steep**: Ground coffee, or tea, goes into the water. Steam bubbled up through the filter heats and stirs it as it steeps. 4. **Vacuum filter**: At the end of the brew time the steam is shut off. As it condenses, it forms a vacuum that pulls the brewed coffee down through the metal filter into the lower chamber. 5. **Serve**: The coffee is dispensed into the cup. Up to four chambers can brew different drinks at the same time. The **Steampunk** is a café brewer from **Alpha Dominche** that looks like a piece of laboratory glassware and works like a programmable [siphon](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/siphon/). A **steam boiler** and a **computer** control everything that happens in its **glass brewing chambers**: the steam that pushes the hot water up into the chamber, the steep time, how much the coffee is **agitated** by steam, and the **vacuum**, also made with steam, that pulls the finished coffee back down through a **metal filter**. It can brew coffee or tea, up to **four cups at once**, each to its own recipe. Here's how it works. ## The short version - **A programmable café brewer** for coffee and tea. - **Steam does the work**: lifting the water, heating, agitating and making the vacuum. - **Glass chambers and metal filters.** - **Up to four drinks at once**, each to its own recipe. - **First shown at the 2012 SCAA Expo.** ## How does the Steampunk work? 1. **The recipe.** The barista chooses or programs a recipe in the software: temperature, brew volume, steep time, agitation and more. 2. **The fill.** The boiler heats the water and builds steam pressure. The set volume of water, mixed to just below the brew temperature, goes into a **steam chamber** below the glass brewing chamber. When the computer opens a steam valve, steam pressure **pushes the water up** through a straw and the **metal filter** into the glass chamber above. 3. **The steep.** Coffee or tea goes into the hot water. Steam keeps flowing up through the filter, which **heats and stirs** the brew; the patent says regulating the steam pressure controls the agitation. 4. **Steam vacuum.** When the brew time is up, the computer **closes the steam valve**. The steam left in the lower chamber condenses, and the drop in pressure forms a **vacuum** that pulls the brewed coffee down through the filter, leaving the grounds above, much like a siphon's drawdown. The patent adds that some machines can let in cold water to cool the steam and speed this up. 5. **Serve.** The coffee is dispensed from the base into the cup. Because every setting is controlled by the computer, Alpha Dominche says the Steampunk can **replicate** many brewing styles, from **French press** to **siphon** to **pour-over**, and repeat them consistently. ## What can it brew? **Coffee and tea.** It was designed for both, and with up to **four chambers**, it can brew **four different drinks** at once. According to New Atlas, Alpha Dominche claimed up to **80 cups an hour**, and the machine uses **three grades of metal filter** to suit different styles. Recipes are set through software, and later models are controlled by an **app** on a phone or tablet. New Atlas captioned it at **US$15,000** in 2013. ## A short history of the Steampunk - **2011:** the earliest filing for Alpha Dominche's patent, naming founder **Khristian Bombeck** and Casey Dodge as inventors. - **2012:** the Steampunk is shown at the **SCAA Exposition**, where it wins a **Best New Product** award. - **2013:** New Atlas reports the **Steampunk 4.0** going national, with a modular **MOD** version to follow, its boiler under the counter. - **2016:** Sprudge describes Alpha Dominche as based in **Salt Lake City and Brooklyn**, as it debuts **Sight**, a full-immersion batch brewer. ## Steampunk vs other café brewers | | Steampunk | [Clover](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/clover/) | [Siphon](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/siphon/) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | How it brews | Steam lifts the water, steam agitation, steam vacuum | Immersion, then a piston-made vacuum | Vapour pressure, then vacuum | | Control | Programmed, per drink | Programmed, per drink | By hand | | Drinks | Coffee and tea | Coffee | Coffee | | At once | Up to four | One | One | *General guidance only. The Steampunk is a commercial machine with a steam boiler, operated by trained staff following the maker's instructions.* ## Steampunk vs other methods - **[Siphon](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/siphon/):** the vacuum pot the Steampunk resembles. - **[Clover](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/clover/):** another programmable café brewer. - **[French press](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/french-press/):** one of the styles it can imitate. - **[Spinn](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/spinn/):** a high-tech home brewer that spins the coffee. Explore every machine method in the [machine chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/machine/). ## Words used in this guide - [Steeping](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/steeping/): Steeping is leaving ground coffee to sit in water so its flavour dissolves out, as in a French press or cold brew. - [Metal filter](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/metal-filter/): A metal filter is a fine stainless-steel mesh that holds back coffee grounds, as used in a French press plunger and some reusable pour-over filters. - [Agitation](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/agitation/): Agitation is any movement of the coffee and water during brewing, such as stirring, swirling or a turbulent pour. - [Drawdown](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/drawdown/): Drawdown is the final stage of a pour-over brew, when you have stopped pouring and the remaining water drains through the coffee bed. - [Pour-over](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/pour-over/): Pour-over is a way of making filter coffee by hand: you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter cone and let it drip through into a cup or jug. - [Immersion vs percolation](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/immersion-vs-percolation/): Immersion brewing steeps all the coffee in all the water at once, as a French press does. ## FAQs ### How does the Steampunk work? Much like a siphon. Steam pressure from a boiler pushes hot water up through a metal filter into a glass brewing chamber. The coffee or tea steeps while steam bubbles through to heat and stir it. When the computer shuts off the steam, the steam left below condenses and forms a vacuum that pulls the drink back down through the filter. ### Can the Steampunk make tea? Yes. It's designed for both coffee and tea, and can brew up to four different drinks at once. ### What brewing styles can it copy? Alpha Dominche says it can consistently replicate a range of brew styles, from French press to siphon to pour-over, by changing the recipe settings. ### When was the Steampunk launched? It was first shown at the 2012 SCAA Exposition, where it won a Best New Product award. In 2013 New Atlas reported that the Steampunk 4.0 was going national. ### Who makes the Steampunk? Alpha Dominche, a company described in 2016 as based in Salt Lake City and Brooklyn. The patent names Khristian Bombeck, its founder, and Casey Dodge as inventors. It later launched a batch brewer called Sight. ## Sources - [US8739689B2: Hot beverage brewing system and use thereof](https://patents.google.com/patent/US8739689B2/en) - [Alpha Dominche Steampunk](https://newatlas.com/alpha-dominche-steampunk/27152/?amp=true) - [Alpha Dominche Sight brewer debuts at SCAA](https://sprudge.com/alpha-dominche-sight-brewer-debuts-at-scaa-98236.html) - [Sight by Alpha Dominche](https://freshcup.com/sight-by-alpha-dominche/)