Presso hand-powered espresso maker: thoughts?
Posted by Tom Moertel Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:50:00 GMT
Has anyone tried the Presso hand-powered espresso maker? It seems that some people have figured out how to get good espresso from it.
I’m wondering if it’s reliably good espresso. If it is, the Presso might make a good take-into-work espresso maker.
Any experience reports?
I have had one of those for a few years, and, although I use it sporadically now, it used to be my go-to coffee machine.
You can make good coffee with them, but it takes practice. It will take a while before you get the right combination of grind and pressure to get the coffee tasting strong enough, without tasting burnt.
In my experience, proper espresso-ground coffee is too fine for the machine, and you can’t press the water through smoothly enough to get good flavour. So, you may have to experiment with different grinds and roasts until you find one that works. But, since “normal” grind and roast also seem to vary with country, this may not be a problem.
The pressing itself is a bit of a black art to start with, as you need to be applying pretty consistent pressure, or the coffee won’t taste right. It is definitely possible to get to the point where you are making good coffees most of the time, but it takes a lot of practice to get there. Of course, practicing means that you get to drink more coffee :-)
My only real complaint is with the body of the machine: being metal, it basically acts like a huge heat-sink! You have to make sure that the presso itself is warm before you start making coffee, or what you get out will be luke warm.
Anyway, I do like pressos, but only if you enjoy making coffee as much as you enjoy drinking it. Hope that helps.
Actually, if you are looking for a coffee maker for work that is a bit less finicky to use, but still makes far better coffee than a french-press, may I suggest a stovetop espresso?
I have used the Bialetti Moka Express for years, with really good results. Of course, you have to learn to use that properly too…
I would like to note that this post has shown up in the rss feed on google reader.
And what about the Handpresso:
http://www.handpresso.fr/products/wild-domepod-EN.html
No experience with this espresso maker but I do find that your rss feed is working for me just fine.
@Andrew: Thanks for the Presso mini-review; that’s exactly the kind of information I was hoping for. :-)
@Tyr, @Mystra: Thanks for letting me know my feed is still working.