Worldwide, 255 kg of coffee are consumed per second – a huge amount – which explains the great variety of devices used in coffee preparation: the filter, French press, Italian stovetop espresso pot, electric coffee maker and pod machine.

Coffee was originally made by boiling the grounds directly in water in an oriental coffee pot of a type still common in Arab countries and some other places today. In the 17^th century, as coffee drinking rapidly spread across Europe, ground coffee was put in a filter and boiling water poured over it. These two 19th-century Bernese coffee pots were not used for making coffee but for serving it. Since the Swiss artist Albert Anker (1831-1910) used such pots as staffage in his popular paintings, this style of coffee pot became known as ‘the Anker style’. Their characteristic curved handles, elongated shape, and three legs are reminiscent of hot-chocolate pots from the same period. When designed for the table, they were often richly ornamented. The smaller of these two pots was for Sundays and holidays, and made of copper. The other was for weekdays and made of less expensive materials, i.e., brass and iron.