A minipresso machine which we saw advertised many times suddenly struck us as a good idea, after we went on holiday to a hotel which served stewed coffee. When you unpack the device, it looks rather like a large, fat black sausage. It reminds me of a Thermos flask. What's inside? Take it apart and this is what you get.
First of all, there's a built in cup at one end. The other end is another cup to filter. A smaller mini-cup with a horizontal handle is where you put your ground coffee. Follow the instruction leaflet. Look at each part. Pour in hot water. Out pops the pumping plunger creating the pressure. Push, push, push to increase the pressure.
Why Buy A Mini Machine
In a previous year, we once drove off from a conference hotel in Wales and went off to Argos and bought the smallest cheapest expresso coffee machine. (Ours at home was collapsing anyway, from a button which had to be pressed ten times - probably because we used it many times a day, also one user pressed very hard on a button which we later realised only needed a light touch.) That time we needed a larger machine for the kitchen.
On a trip this year, I wished I had a machine smaller enough to pack in a wheelie bag for a train or plane. So we bought a mini coffee machine and tried it out, not only because of impatience and glee. If it needed returning, better to do that in the country where we bought it. Better to return it immediately (more protection in consumer law and shows the item was faulty and not just worn out from months of use). Also you have the packaging handy, and you remember where you bought it and the website.
Learning
We learn from our mistakes. We had the frothy coffee with a croissant and burned the croissant on the toaster. If you burn a croissant, scrape it to get off the burned part which tastes horrid and causes cancer. Who says so? According to several cancer sites. I first learned this from a friend of mine who worked in a hospital in Singapore. She treated - she grabbed a burned pizza whicihand tap it afterwards.
Coffee Making
Scoop out the coffee. Tamp it down with the back of the scoop. The filter fits on top, invert it and eh coffee makes a little sandcastle, then use the base of the measure / scoop to press it down. Wipe the edge off the holder of the coffee because you want a tight seal for the next step
When To Drink It?
We made a second cup. Espresso coffee is always made small. The Italians drink coffee to revive after evening dinner. A longer weaker coffee with milk is mor suitable at breakfast time. The Brits have no such tradition and some people like a strong coffee to wake up in the morning or keep going all day.
Top Tip
Pre-heat the machine
Late Coffee And Waking At Night
I went to my doctor and said I was waking at night. He asked how many coffees I drank in a day. I said about five. Breakfast, elevenses, (British term for the eleven a.m. coffee break), lunch, tea time and after dinner.
He told me to try having only one after breakfast, a second cup for elevenses, decaffeinated coffee after lunch, none at afternoon tea time and none after dinner. I tried what he suggested and it worked.
When I have been out to a dinner party and forgotten or decided to be sociable and drink coffee after dinner with everybody else, I found I woke at night. I at first attributed waking at night to eating too much, or the late night, the excitement of the friends, the stress of the journey. But when I went through the entire history of the evening, I realised that coffee late at night was the crucial factor.
Price?
Finally, the price of the mini espresso machine. £50 for the small machine. Cheaper than £80 for the cheapest and smallest proper machine. (A lovely red Krups.) Over £20 on Amazon delivery is free.
Do Try This At Home
I ask the family trekker's opinion on the coffee maker. (I have two sports enthusiasts in my family - I'm the couch potato sitting typing, needing a coffee to get the energy to stand up and fetch a glass of water.) He comments, "Yes, it's so clever. I like to try everything at home before going on a trip."
Trying everything includes mending the old boots with superglue and seeing if they survive a puddle day. Then ordering and wearing the new hiking boots for a day, in dry and wet weather.
Next ordering a tent. Putting up the one man tent in the garden. Finding out the tent user wants to order an elastic rope to tie open the flap. The rope, from Cotswold store in Watford, costs only 40p, with free postage. If a store uses Amazon as a storefront and sends goods direct, they can set their own price. With UK post and packing costing about 50p, we don't see how they can make a profit. But they have our regular business, in person and online.
So even if they are not making a profit on this item, the goodwill is invaluable to them, because earlier this year we have dashed in and bought other goods at what we knew was a high price (I dashed in and phoned home - "this is costing twice the price you wrote down it would cost you online, dear," "Just to get it!" He wanted it the same day because he was keen to try out on the tent before a trip. either Trying out the coffee maker.)
User's Problems and Solutions
After making the coffee, how do you take it apart again? You are liable to burn yourself on hot water if you take it apart immediately. You could add cold water, empty it over a sink at home. Outdoors, you could empty it over a bit of flat earth away from plants and people, or onto paper so you don't risk dropping it in dirt. Or wear gloves. Or wait until you've drunk your coffee and the machine is cool. Or just be very careful!
How do you get the piston back inside and flat again? The machine's semi automatic piston turns and locks in.
What about the top? We thought the thread was weak then found there was no thread. It just pushes on.
Verdict: "Most pleasing that it arrived so quickly, first thing in the morning the weekend before a trip."
Free Fast Delivery
If you are a prime member of Amazon in effect you have paid in advance with your membership fee for a delivery or two so you benefit from being sure to get everything free delivery next day in a hurry if you are going on a trip. And if you are in business the cost is a business expense and offset against tax.
Lavazza Ground Coffee
Our experiment was a great success. We liked the coffee maker and used some free ground coffee which had been sitting around unused for weeks because in our home office kitchen we were using a Krups pod machine.
The Lavazza coffee was a free gift. Not to me personally but in a goodie bag picked up by somebody else and given to me. The goodie bags were for the people who attended a trade presentation at a food and drink show in the Business Centre in Islington. (Not enough to go round - my business partner spotted one but I wasn't given one.)
(If I/we had not liked the coffee I would have damned it with faint praise, such as: 'strong/weak coffee is not my taste but you might like it if you ...' etc etc. I try to give a clear outline of the pros and cons of the item I review, and my own budget - which is for the best amiable at the best bargain price - and my preference, for bright colours, strong aromas, flavoured, slightly sweet taste, not too acid nor over strong nor acidic nor spicy, bearing in mind that the reader may well have a different view.)
I was surprised that I really liked the Lavazza ground coffee. I immediately said, "I love this coffee!" The first half was drunk without milk, proper espresso style. I drank the second half cold with added milk.
We then made a second cup. Normally I don't like strong coffee. Others in the family are keen on the strongest coffee pods from Nespresso and Cafe Pod but I have always gone for the weaker coffees (alas discontinued by top of the range Nespresso and cheaper Cafe Pod this year).
The mini espresso we bought with our own money.
If anybody wants to send me free gifts of anything I would not say no! In my blog I would just explain it was a free gift and give an honest account of which readers might like or dislike about the product.
For more information see:
www.wacao.com minipresso
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
For more information on Angela Lansbury see previous posts, other blogs by Angela on blogger.com, Angela Lansbury author on Facebook, Twitter, and Angela Lansbury, author, on restaurant etiquette on YouTube. Books by Angela Lansbury from libraries and Amazon and second hand bookstores include ten by mainstream publishers on wedding etiquette and general etiquette, plus ten more recently published paperbacks on poetry for adults and children, Quick Quotations, Who Said What When, and a novel inspired by filling in the blanks in family history called The Tailor And The Spy. See Amazon author profile and books and Lulu.com
