We continue to look at the latest and greatest portable espresso machines from Wacaco, our favourite brand in this niche, and they have a number of really great solutions at varying price points depending on your budget and your level of interest in making the coffee!
Last week, we did the Picopresso, and this week we try out the PIxapresso, before our final contender in the three part series, the Minipresso NS2 all with their own unique features.
The Pixapresso goes where no other Wacaco portable espresso machine has gone before, in that it is battery operated and actually heats the water up for you! It also has a cute little digital display panel made up of large pixels (we think that's the inspiration for the name) that start's with a smiley face when you turn it on!
We took a trip down the KZN South Coast on a perfect, crisp winters day to test it out!
The parts all fit neatly inside the case and it comes with a cool travel bag. We did a single espresso shot, dosed at 8g of ground coffee as our first attempt.
It's very easy to dose and fill the reservoir (very cool guide lines inside for filling to the correct mark!) and then hit the brew button!
Things we love:
- It heats up your water to precisely the temp you want to extract at. You can change this if you like. No more boiling water and having to lug it around in a flask on your adventure, only to find your brewing water is luke-warm by the time you try make coffee.
- No additional heat source or power source required. Once you've charged it up using the USB-C cable it's good to go.
- It makes really great coffee, and it gives you lots of extraction options - from ristretto, to espresso and Lungo. It's super easy to move between single and double shots and to play with ratios.
- It also has the option to use a capsule!
Part two of the review was back in town, at Coffee Mag HQ. What we realised in terms of application, is that this Pizapresso is really quite an incredible tool if you want cafe quality espresso while travelling, camping, self catering and on any adventure where you have access to power point intermittebly.
It's really easy to clean as the pressure makes the used puck nice and firm like a standard espresso machine puck.
Good things to note:
- You can't use it straight out the box. You have to charge it up for a good few hours before your adventure. If you fail to charge it, there's no work around - unless you have the USB-C cable and a powerbank.
- The Pixapresso has one button to toggle through the options on the cute little pixel face, and varying press/hold combinations to either toggle or choose what you want and to turn it on/off. It takes a few attempts to get the hang of it.
- The extraction process of making a coffee is slower ... you have to do the usual grinding, dosing and choosing, then wait for the water to heat and then it extracts. This is the longest part of the process, about 1-2 minutes. Then you need to clean it (which is very easy!) to make another or to put it away. Not great for multiple cups under pressure, but excellent for just one cup or two if you're not in a rush, and you have some time on your side!
