Mypressi Twist portable espresso maker

Has it really come to this? Yes. Yes it has. All you bean lovers out there – not the musical variety but the coca alternative crop – now have yet another way to get your fix away from home: the Mypressi Twist portable espresso maker.

There are a lot of ways to make coffee, and a lot of things affect taste, from grind to temperature to water quality to the nasty ass-breath of your belay slave. Many of these are under operator control, but for espresso the hardest thing to get right on the machine side is the pressure. The Twist solves this problem by using NO2 cartridges like you'll find in commercial whipped cream dispensers. The cartridges are steel, fully recyclable and provide half a dozen or more single shots per.

The first unit I received had a gas problem but the replacement worked perfectly. I used espresso ground coffee, but it will also take ESE pods. It takes a few tries to get it right, and the instructions could be a little more clear about how much water and coffee to use (the markings on the equipment are hard to decipher). Once dialed in the Twist puts out surprisingly good and consistent shots of the brown miracle liquid. It's good enough in fact that I'm tempted to give up my French Pressing ways and journey down the dark road of designer coffee.

Along with NO2 cartridges all you add are coffee and boiling water. Bottom line: if you just have to have espresso on the trail and you're willing to carry a few extra pounds to do it, the Twist is your best option short of packing in airdropping a $7,000 La Marzocco. 

$149.95 at Amazon