Picopresso

I would respectfully disagree with you. Freshly ground coffee is the 1st for any coffee hobbyist. And IMO one should start from filter based coffee to build up their taste buds. I would also disagree that picopresso give an espresso coffee… no manual lever-less machine can produce 9 bars to get real

Why should it be? It just looks like a Moka pot, it's a wholly different beast. It's making 9 bars of pressure on a frikking stovetop. For context, a pressure cooker gets upto 1 bar of pressure. Moka pot is between 1 and 2 bars. So the engineering, design and safety is highly non-trivial. On top of

Love my Picopresso for the office - saves me having to go to the awful chain stores around there and have a decent coffee. My only complaint is the slightly cooler temperature but such is the compromise for this type of machine. It really is amazing for the size and cost

Moka pot rules: 1 it is moka pot not an espresso machine2 never press down the grounds. It has to be loose in the basket3 there is no crema. Some grounds gives you foam but it is not crema!4 if you want espresso at home, buy an espresso machine The cheapest option for espresso with crema is the Waca

Look at Wacaco. They have multiple devices for most styles. I usually travel with the Pipamoka because it means I can actually use pre-ground coffee and still get ok results. If you're a snob, the Picopresso is your best bet. You get actual specialty level coffee, but it does require both a kettle a

I think you answered yourself a couple times in your rant. maybe espresso is not for you? I would ditch the store beans , they are good but vary so much and are really stale after 1 or 2 weeks. Buy from your local roaster probably not that expensive. the 2 most important thing in espresso is quality

If you want to pay less than $100, want good coffee, and don't have a grinder, just buy an aeropress, it will serve you better than a peice of shit cheap espresso machine. Pre-ground with a pressurised basket is just glorified nespresso with extra steps. To get into espresso and if you're going to b

If you don't want to buy a new grinder, get the minipresso. The coffee will be closer to what you get from a moka pot than an espresso machine. If you want to make proper espresso, get an espresso grinder (like a kingrinder k6) and the picopresso.

I have a picopresso. It was my sole espresso machine for three years until I received my Argos this March - shockingly capable device if you put a slightly nicer basket in it. I would still use the stock one while traveling because it has the perfect little hand tamper that fits in the machine. I br

Picopresso is good, apparently the newer ones have a pressure gauge which is imo very useful for getting consistently good results. I prefer the Flair but it takes up more space for sure.