Wacaco Nanopresso review
The Wacaco Nanopresso is one of the most portable espresso machines on the market. It is a unique and well designed piece of kit that will provide you with a great cup of coffee in the morning. We bet you’ll have the best espresso of the campsite. A perfect piece of gear for the adventurous lifestyle. But is it as good as they say, or are there some drawbacks as well? Let’s find out!
For us a good day of exploration starts with a high quality cup of coffee. It’s the black liquid that gets our day going. With our overlander lifestyle we take on a new adventure, whilst still processing the previous. There’s no certainty in this lifestyle, every day will present new challenges.
Luckily for us the one constant in life is a good cup of coffee in the morning. Our Nanopresso provides us with comfort, whilst kickstarting our day at the same time.
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What is the Nanopresso?
The Nanopresso is a hand-powered portable espresso maker. The press is designed by the innovative Wacaco Company and is one of the newest generations of travel coffee makers on the market. The patented pumping system creates a stable 18 bars of pressure, resulting in a great extraction and tasteful coffee. With this it’s competing with top of the line barista espresso machines and will outcompete most household machines with ease.
Thanks to the well engineered design it will turn 8 grams of ground into a nice brew with a dense crema layer. According to Wacaco the device works best with an extra fine grind. Although you have to stay away from the finest grinds cause these will get in between the rubbers, as we’ve learned the hard way.
Looking at simplicity (and things that can break) it has has more parts than the famous mokkapot or French press, but still works pretty straight forward, as can be seen in the video below. Also the whole Nanopresso can be easily taken apart for a deep clean, which is a big win for us. During our travels we live off-the-grid and don’t have access to washing facilities or a kitchen that often. A quick rinse must be sufficient enough.
When living on the road space and weight are also something to take into consideration. Wacaco kept this in mind when designing the press and have managed to keep the weight down to 336 grams and kept the length at 15,6 cm. It’s both easy to pack and hold in your hand.
So what are the pros and cons after 6 months of fulltime use on the road, according to our experience?
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Pros
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The Nanopresso body is very solid and can withstand a fall.
- It’s lightweight and small. Great for storing it in the vehicle or when taking it on a backpacking trip.
- The pump is sturdy and firm.
- It provides a good cup of coffee with a nice and dense crema layer.
- It gives a true espresso coffee, comparable to high-end coffees from your local barista.
- It’s easy to use and your coffee is ready in less than a minute.
- The product is fairly easy to clean. Taking it apart for a deep clean is easy, but most times a rinse will do just fine though.
Cons
- You do need an external source of hot water, as with most camping coffee products. You can bring the Wacaco Nanovessel to bring hot water with you to the outdoors, which is a nice addition.
- Once cleaned the drying process can take quite a long time. You can’t really dry it with a towel due to the construction. Sometimes we just store it a bit damp, which probably is no problem if you use it later in the day or the next morning.
- You’ll get real espresso shots. That’s great, but it’s just not a lot of coffee. You can double it by buying the Barista Kit.
- If the grind is too fine it will get in between the plastic parts and the rubber, causing leakage. This won’t cause permanent damage, it’s just annoying.
Would we buy it again?
Depending on what coffee you like, it will definitely be a great addition to your coffee arsenal. If you love espresso as much as we do it’s a great piece of kit and the quality of the product is top notch. With the Wacaco Nanopresso it’s easier to get constant quality than with a mokkapot for example. That’s why we really like it, operating is easy and the coffee is tasteful.
We’ve been using this product fulltime for more than 18 months now. We take it anywhere in any environment. With all the vibrations and bumps that come with overland travel it’s been fairly abused, although we do keep it in the official case. The Wacaco Nanopresso meets our requirements and has withstood the test of time. It truly is a high quality product. If you’re into espresso and love to travel we advise you to buy one as well, you won’t be disappointed!
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Barista Kit addition
As you can see on the pictures above we’ve added the Barista Kit to our coffee arsenal. Thanks to this addition we are able to get stronger espressos, bigger espressos and just more of the good stuff. The standard Nanopresso is great, but we consider the Barista Kit a neccessary addition if you love espressos or are with two or more people.
Disclaimer: we are not sponsored by Wacaco and have bought this product ourselves. This review is fully independent.
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