Abstract: The brewing apparatus (2) comprises lateral guiding and holding plates (6, 7) for securing and guiding individual components thereof. A movable brewing piston (39) is guided in a cylindrical guideway (8) provided with an external thread (93). A nut (9) rotatable on the guideway has teeth (10) at its periphery and is moved on the guideway by a motor-driven, elongated gearwheel (11). Lateral guide arms (14, 15) engage the nut and the brewing piston and control the pivoting movement of a brewing cylinder (82). The brewing cylinder has two arms provided with teeth (86, 87), these arms co-operating with a drive part (26) for moving an ejection piston (107) in the brewing cylinder. The drive part for the ejection piston is designed in such a way that it travels only half as far as the ejection piston and thus allows the coffee machine to have less headroom.