Goodbye, instant coffee: Wacaco Minipresso hand-pressed mini coffee machine hands-on experience

Author: fxf porridge

First of all, I want to sincerely thank Wacaco. It made me understand what coffee is. Originally, my knowledge of coffee was limited to Nestle instant coffee (don’t laugh). If I was a little more particular, I would just go to Starbucks to have a latte. Until a friend gave me this mini coffee machine, I tried to make coffee by myself, and gradually became interested in coffee while doing it.

WACACO Minipresso Outdoor Portable Coffee Machine Manual Hand Pressed Coffee Powder Model…

Wacaco makes espresso, which is usually called Italian espresso or black coffee in coffee shops. Just like when talking about watches, Switzerland must be mentioned, and when talking about wine, France must be mentioned. The source of coffee culture is Italy. Therefore, Starbucks cannot take root in Italy, and people despise it. Espresso is only a small cup, and Italians don't even need a seat, they drink it in three or two sips at the bar.

This coffee recipe must have appeared in your circle of friends. A key piece of information is that Espresso is the basis of all coffee. Mocha, cappuccino, Americano, etc. are all made by adding different "auxiliary ingredients" to Espresso. It is not an exaggeration to call it the soul of coffee. After the pressurized hot water, the coffee powder is quickly washed, and the final result is Espresso. Note that the coffee powder here is not instant powder, but fine powder ground from coffee beans. Instant coffee can only be called a coffee-flavored beverage. Because of the pressure involved, Espresso used to rely on coffee machines. First, coffee machines cannot be carried with you, and second, the purchase threshold is relatively high. If you are not a person who is particularly passionate about coffee, you will not put such a large coffee machine at home. Some people who want to understand coffee often stop when they see a large and expensive coffee machine. Therefore, I think the significance of Wacaco is not only portability, but more importantly, it lowers the threshold for making coffee, so that more people can really get in touch with coffee, and I am one of them. Since I got this mini coffee machine, I make a cup of espresso every breakfast and start my day with an energetic feeling.

The core of Wacaco is to increase the pressure by manually pressing the piston. I will not go into details about the specific operation steps of Wacaco, because Zhang Damu has already provided many tutorials, and the product pages of JD.com, Tmall, etc. are more detailed, and even have very intuitive videos.

At first, I thought it would be complicated because there were so many parts to disassemble the Wacaco (the spoon was missing). But after learning how to do it once, I was able to throw away the instruction manual the second time.

Simply put, the cup is divided into two sides and the middle. The middle is a pressure chamber, and then water is put on one side and coffee powder on the other side. The water on one side is pressurized by the middle pressure chamber (squeezing the piston with your hand) and quickly rushes to the coffee powder on the other side, and finally espresso is obtained. The principle is so simple.

This type of pressurized coffee has a layer of grease on the surface, which looks golden. At first, I was worried that such a small machine, and manual operation, would produce unstable results. After using it, I found that this worry was unnecessary, because the amount of coffee powder and water is limited by the container, and the number of times that can be pressed each time is basically constant, so that there will be no obvious deviation in the product. In terms of the taste of the coffee, I can't taste any obvious difference from the Espresso in the coffee shop outside, and other netizens also unanimously think that the taste is not worse than that of the coffee machine. By the way, in order to drink more, I specially bought a bone china cup at MUJI.

However, the espresso made by Wacaco is not without flaws, and this flaw is quite fatal to experts. The hot water flows from one end of Wacaco to the other end and then comes out, which can only be regarded as warm water. A very important point in drinking espresso is that it must be hot enough. In order to pursue the heat, they even have the step of warming the cup, for fear that the cold cup will cool the coffee. If you can't tolerate this imperfection, you can make the best of it and add boiling water to the espresso in the cup to make it an American coffee.

Illy Espresso Beans 250g (Dark Roasted)

As for coffee powder, I bought illy dark roast. Lavazza is a little cheaper, but I haven't compared the specific taste differences, so it's hard to say. In addition to the version with coffee powder, Wacaco also has a capsule version. I recommend buying the capsule version because from a portability perspective, capsules are easier to carry when on business trips or traveling. For example, when I'm on a business trip, the capacity of my backpack is extremely limited, and it's unrealistic for me to stuff another can of coffee powder in. Currently, I keep Wacaco at home. I don't take it on business trips not because coffee powder is difficult to carry, but because the appearance of the cup is easy to be misunderstood. Once when I went through security, I saw the security check MM looking at my Wacaco and smiling. I guess she mistakenly thought it was...

Finally, I will list the advantages and disadvantages of Wacaco.

Advantages: You can drink professional espresso at home without having to buy an expensive and space-consuming coffee machine; the operation process is very simple, and you can throw away the instruction manual after practicing it once; the coffee tastes no worse than that produced by a coffee machine; although it is manually operated, the product is relatively stable; and it is easy to clean.

Disadvantages: The coffee is not hot enough, which affects the taste; the appearance may be mistaken for some kind of sex toy;