Wacaco Minipresso Portable Espresso machine

If you are a coffee enthusiast you probably want to have a good coffee anywhere: at the gym, at the office, in the park or even on a bikepacking tour across the USA.

Looking for a decent coffee shop is, sometimes, a tedious task.The Wacaco Minipresso espresso machine comes to solve this problem.It's a small device can fit into any backpack or suitcase. It's fully manual and doesn't need any electricity  - just a source of hot water (a kettle, an outdoor stove, a bonfire etc.).

The Wacaco Minipresso is available in two versions: Minipresso Gr for use with ground coffee, and Minipresso Ns for use with Nespresso coffee pods.According to the manufacturer the Minipresso generates an average pressure of 8 Bar, which is almost the same as the pressure of an electric machine.

CHARACTERISTICS

Dimension	175x70x60 mm	6.89x2.75x2.36 in
Weight	360 g	0.8 lbs
Water capacity	70 ml	2.35 oz
Ground capacity	8 g	0.28 oz
Average pressure	8 bar	116 psi

The Minipresso comes complete with a coffee filter basket, a 7g coffee scoop that uses also the tamper, a cup and a 70 ml water container - all made of durable plastic.

These basic components are suitable for making a single short espresso shot. If anyone wants to make a long or a double espresso, he or she needs to buy the Minipresso Kit which contains 3 additional filter baskets, another cup and a 120ml water container.

I'm using the Minipresso Gr version (bought for 49.9$) with the Minipresso kit (bought for 29.9$) for almost three years with variety of coffee beans blends, Using the machine is easy, all you have to do is take a scoopful of ground coffee and pure into the filter basket, place the basket in its place and close the filter head, add some hot water to the water container (up to the marking line) and attach the main body to the water container. Then you just release the piston and start pumping the coffee into the cup.

This whole process takes about 4-5 minutes – faster then waiting in line at almost any coffee shop.

Pros:

·         Small and lightweight – fits into any backpack.

·         Easy to use

·         Available anywhere

·         Low price (compared to electric coffee makers)

Cons:

·         Needs a hot water source – more things to carry.

·         Hard to clean – can be cleaned only with water and there are some parts that can't be wet – mainly the O-ring between the main body and the water container

Overall the pros outweigh the cons so I highly recommend the Wacaco Minipresso.

This is a picture I took of an espresso I made at home. As you can see it produces a very decent espresso cup with a good crema.