Norwegian television show hosts hack a hot water heater to transform your typical kitchen faucet into a coffee maker. (Photo: Photo courtesy of <a href=&)

It's every coffee addicts dream -  hot coffee direct from your kitchen tap.

Two guys on the Norwegian comedy-documentary, Ikke Gjør Dette Hjemme, which literally means "Don't do this at home" hacked a home's hot water heater to make the caffeine faucet fantasy a reality.

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How is this possible?

It's possible first, because they raised the temperature on the hot water heater from a reasonable 70 degrees Celsius (158°F) to a near-boiling 90 degrees Celsius (194° F). They also made the wise decision to skip traditional ground coffee, which needs consistent temperatures of  91-96 degrees Celsius (195°F-205°F) to avoid the flat, bitter taste we associate with gas station coffee, and instead loaded the heater with instant.

Instant coffee can be made at temperatures as low as 85 degrees Celsius (185° F) because instant coffee is basically a dehydrated version of the ground beans we're used to. It's coffee that has been roasted, ground, dissolved in water and then freeze-dried (dehydrated). The goal of hot water in instant coffee is simply to get the grounds to dissolve. In brewed coffee, on the other hand, you're trying to extract just the water soluble material from the bean. Hot water causes a hydrolytic reaction in which the water-soluble parts of the coffee (mostly proteins and sugar) dissolve. What passes through ends up in our cup, while the grinds end up in our compost bin, in the trash, or as mushroom food. This is why instant coffee disappears in your cup, but grinds may remain when drinking ground coffee.

The downside is, as we move towards tankless hot water heaters (which heat water on demand) because they're more energy efficient, the ability to do hacks like these becomes more difficult.  On the other hand, if you're on a well or cistern system you could crack open your holding tank and get started on some cold brewed coffee. But remember, as the show is aptly titled, please don't try this at home.