For too long now, our nation’s coffee-drinking households have been torn by competing allegiances. On one side are the star-spangled auto-drippers, the American traditionalists who swear by the same brew their grandpas gulped, served in regular-sized mugs just like they do it down at the local diner. Then there are the continentals, tireless partisans of the stronger, more refined European coffee styles. Long a minority here but now in the ascendant, the continentals will not drink any coffee whose name doesn’t end in an “O”. But the auto-drippers aren’t going to give up their dominant position without a fight. Must we continue down this road of division and discord? Is a coffee civil war inevitable?

Not if Salton has anything to do with it. Like Jimmy Carter clasping hands with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, they’ve come up with an ingenious plan to resolve this explosive conflict. And it’s called the Salton Coffee/Espresso Maker.

That’s right: it brings an automatic-drip coffeemaker and an espresso/cappuccino maker together in one sleek, black unit. The “100% Americanism” crowd will appreciate the swing-away filter basket, the pause-and-serve carafe, and the 8-cup capacity. To the effete pseudo-Euro snobs, it offers simple controls for brewing up real espresso, with a calibrated carafe and a steam jet for convenient frothing. Some ask “Can’t all coffees just get along?” The Salton Coffee/Espresso Maker answers with a hearty “Yes!”, accompanied by an equally hearty “Sì!”

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