January 9, 2026
Brew Wars: Nostromo Edition
Alien: Braun Aromaster KF 20 Coffee Makers (2012)
Alien’s coffee maker revealed—fans swoon, skeptics say plastic fails
TLDR: Alien’s Nostromo coffee maker is the Braun Aromaster KF 20, a 1972 design icon. The comments clash over loving vintage European style versus frustration with fragile plastic—plus jokes about the designer looking like Ned Flanders—making this a perfect mix of nostalgia, snark, and space coffee drama.
Turns out the Nostromo’s humble coffee maker in Alien is a real-life design icon: the Braun Aromaster KF 20 from 1972, spotted by superfan Nexus42. This sleek brew box — priced back then at DM139 (German marks) — put the water tank right above the filter for that space-age silhouette. Director Ridley Scott’s Braun obsession checks out: fans point to Deckard’s kitchen in Blade Runner stacked with Braun gadgets. But the real fun is in the comments, where nostalgia, nitpicking, and meme magic collide.
SoftTalker swoons over “cool” European ’60s/’70s style, while metalman rains on the parade with a plastic-doomsday take: your mom’s Braun gear “inevitably fails.” ggm calls the parent site a time capsule of the “obsessive Web” of the ’90s — which everyone reads while hunting eBay for a surviving KF 20. And then the meme bomb: srean wonders if designer Florian Seiffert is basically Ned Flanders, even dropping a photo link. Cue jokes about “space espresso” vs. “space brittle plastic,” and confessions of secret grinders stashed like contraband. The vibe? Retro worship meets repair rage, with a sprinkle of cartoon cosplay. Either way, fans agree the KF 20 could drop today and still look futuristic — and make Alien feel oddly homey.
Key Points
- •The coffee makers in the Nostromo kitchenette were identified as Braun Aromaster KF 20, designed in 1972 by Florian Seiffert.
- •The KF 20 featured Braun’s c-principle closed filter system with the water reservoir above the coffee filter and an enclosed handle jug.
- •The KF 20 was produced unchanged for five years and cost DM139, with colors including white, yellow, orange, red, dark red, and olive.
- •The successor KF 21 added an open-handle glass jug, a hotplate thermostat slider, and limited colors to white, yellow, and orange.
- •Ridley Scott also used Braun appliances in Deckard’s Blade Runner kitchen, and vintage units can still be found on eBay, including examples purchased from Germany.