Looks like Max Brenner, the nonexistent "Bald Man" of high-concept choco-bar infamy, has started a trend: Call it the Willie Wonka–fication of the coffeehouse experience. The weirdness continues at the Roasting Plant, where freshly roasted coffee beans are sucked out of transparent vessels through overhead pipes and into a souped-up espresso machine. We're as baffled as anyone, but we also have to grudgingly admit that the shop's main attraction, a Rube Goldberg–meets–H.R. Giger device, looks pretty damn cool. And, who knows, perhaps the beans do stay fresher this way. We'll let Rob and Robin provide further explanation over at Grub Street.

The Roasting Plant’s Coffee Beans Dance Overhead [Grub Street]