Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. A new Star Trek type of beverage printer makes it so.

How many times did Captain Picard order tea on Star Trek only to have it appear immediately?

Or how many times did a member of the crew of the Enterprise walk up to a beverage dispenser, announce what they wanted, and the drink just appeared? Whether it was coffee, hot chocolate, tea, or raktujinos, just to name a few, they were all at the fingertips of each and every starship crew member. Now, that could be a possibility for us in the very near future thanks to California-based startup, Cana.

According to Mashed.com, Cana’s single-flavor cartridge can mix “thousands of different beverages,” including tea, energy water, wine, sports drinks, soda, coffee, and more. And imagine having a drink station that will enable you to specify the amount of sugar and cream in your coffee. You can do that with Cana’s molecular beverage printer called Cana One.

Cana is bringing Star Trek to life…at least with beverages.

According to Cana, its scientists discovered a way to “identify and isolate” molecules that make up the flavor and aroma in the beverages we drink. Using that knoweldge, they’ve been able to recreate thousands of drinks, and they did it all without bottles. Of course, unlike Star Trek where money isn’t a factor any longer, in this century, everything still costs.

Cana One has the ability to “automatically replace ingredient cartridges” each month which means you’ll pay for the service on a “per-drink basis.” But before you get those cartridges, you’ll have to get the printer, and those are on reserve right now. With a deposit of $99, you can hold one of the $499 machines until its expected delivery date in 2023. That $99 will be deducted from your purchase price which will be $499 only for the first 10,000 orders. After that, the price increases to $799.

You can learn more about Cana One and all of its bells and whistles and reserve one for your family by visiting Cana. It sounds like an amazing piece of technology. I guess we’ll have to wait to see if it really does give the Star Trek replicators a run for their money, so to speak.