OT: Portable Espresso Machine Recommendations?

[William]

I guess that depends on what one's definition of "tasty" is. For me personally, if it isn't a really fresh bean that I just ground myself and levered into a syrupy shot of golden espresso...it's not "tasty", it's only tolerable enough to deliver the caffeine.





W.

[goonster]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

I find this weird, but is there a way to make good freeze dried coffee?

Depends on your expectations, but not really. Freeze-drying is better than spray-drying, but not as good as concentrate, and none are worth the effort imho, mainly because of shelf life limitation. If I can't have espresso, Aeropress or pour-over from freshly ground beans, my expectations shift dramatically.

A months-old freeze-dried strawberry is edible, and better than many alternatives, but it can't really be compared to fresh fruit.

(Speaking as a ChE and coffee nerd, with extensive experience in lyophilization)

[benb]

I have a Flair Neo, it breaks down exactly the same as the more expensive units.

The only difference is it doesn't come with the case, you'd have to buy it separately.

What grinder you have access to on the road would determine whether a Flair Neo would be better or worse than the more expensive units.

Realistically the only difference with the Neo is the pressurized porta filter. I bought the Bottomless porta filter for mine and basically never use the pressurized filter anymore, but could use it on the road if the coffee grinding was an issue. If all you could get was store pre-ground the Neo's filter would be better.

You can use the pressurized porta filter with the more expensive units too.

I was travelling last week and took my Aeropress.. the Flair would not really take any extra room unless you wanted to have some way to foam milk.

The Aeropress makes great coffee but something about it is so inelegant too with all the plastic and the way it doesn't make that much volume of coffee and yet isn't as strong as espresso either.

The flair is more demanding in terms of requirements for boiling water though. The Aeropress doesn't need to be pre-heated, so you can just boil water in the microwave and go. The Flair doesn't produce it's best results unless you can keep the water on the boil while pre-heating and then still get water of the right temp out at brew time.

If you were backpacking or cycling I'd go plastic drip cone instead any day... the Flair and Aeropress both take way more room and are way more fiddly.

[tctyres]

Originally Posted by froze

Other than that not sure why you don't like the GSI, it makes a pretty good cup of coffee, sure it's not espresso, and it's not Turkish, put it's close to French Press but better than a automatic drip maker. If you didn't like the flavor it produced maybe your grind was incorrect? ...

Just to be clear, we have different products.
The one you have is this: https://gsioutdoors.com/ultralight-java-drip.html
I have this: https://gsioutdoors.com/collapsible-javadrip-blue.html

There's something about that collapsible rubber that catches a lot of grounds. I find it frustrating. It's just a little too difficult to clean. The coffee is fine... just a standard drip, I think.

[froze]

Originally Posted by tctyres

Just to be clear, we have different products.
The one you have is this: https://gsioutdoors.com/ultralight-java-drip.html
I have this: https://gsioutdoors.com/collapsible-javadrip-blue.html

There's something about that collapsible rubber that catches a lot of grounds. I find it frustrating. It's just a little too difficult to clean. The coffee is fine... just a standard drip, I think.

Oh, ok, yeah I have the ultralight one and it works good enough for my needs when camping. Mine is easy to clean, I give it a fling so it turns inside out and when that happens the major portion of the grounds is ejected, then I just run it inside out over running water to wash netting clean. It does use plastic legs and clips so I am careful about making sure not to break it when I attach the thing onto my cup.

[Dude]

Surprised this hasn't come up.... https://briping.com/. Freebasing coffee.

[Hellgate]

I just chuck my DeLonghli in the car as a tagalong.

[charliedid]

Anyone own and or use the Neo? Compare it to the Robot...

Thx

[MikeD]

Cowboy coffee, brewed over an open fire, grounds strained through the teeth. Mmm good!

[froze]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Cowboy coffee, brewed over an open fire, grounds strained through the teeth. Mmm good!

History on Cowboy coffee. When the settlers came to America from other countries, some of them set out across America and traveled in caravans and rode herd with cowboys, some of those people were the cooks for the crew, those cooks came from various countries, like Turkey, Arabia, Sweden, Bosnia and surrounding areas, Russia, etc. All they were doing is making coffee for the crew from where they came from and how they made it. We know cowboy coffee to be Turkish coffee that for some odd reason is difficult to find in coffee shops since at one time here in America it was the main way to make coffee, so you would have thought we would have stuck to stronger coffee making ways, but instead we started to slowly water it down which eventually led to the god awful automatic drip makers.

The same thing happened to our beer!

Swedish coffee was just slightly different, they put an egg into the coffee which kept the grounds from floating in the coffee, but that just seems odd because if they simply waited the grounds would settle to the bottom of the cup.

The Turks would make you a cup of coffee then after you drank it you handed them the cup and they would read the grounds and tell you your future...all nonsense of course but they believed in that stuff back then, they still do readings today in Turkey but it's more for entertainment purposes.

[crankles]

Originally Posted by froze

but instead we started to slowly water it down which eventually led to the god awful automatic drip makers.

The same thing happened to our beer!

I always thought "weak" coffee was the result of the Great Depression followed by WW II rationing.

[froze]

Originally Posted by crankles

I always thought "weak" coffee was the result of the Great Depression followed by WW II rationing.

hmm, maybe?!

[goonster]

Originally Posted by froze

We know cowboy coffee to be Turkish coffee that for some odd reason is difficult to find in coffee shops since at one time here in America it was the main way to make coffee

The coffee filter basket was not developed until 1908, and before that, decoction was pretty much the only game in town.

(I fell down a rabbit hole recently researching commercial processes in the pre-espresso golden age of the Vienna Kaffeehaus. They did large batch decoctions with a coarse piston-actuated filtration, and the serving carafes were stored in hot-water baths. Cooler-than-boiling extraction was apparently quite rare.)

[Kirkmichaels]

Always wanted to try the aeropress!

[grawk]

the decent espresso machine ships in a suitcase, just sayin.