Conqueco Portable Espresso Maker

In last months issue, I reviewed a manual Espresso maker (not from Conqueco). This time round we have one that does it all by itself, no need for a flask full of hot water, hooray! Whether you’re out in the wild on a long hiking trek, camping or stopping for a bit of a lunch break, a good espresso can give you the boost you need to keep going, not to mention they’re delicious! Funnily enough however, you don’t get many coffee ships or barrista’s where most people go for hiking or camping, at least not in my experience.

This espresso maker clocks in about 2/3’s the size of a hot water flask and is made out of an aluminium alloy so it’s relatively light for what it is at just under a Kg (the Blue Peter fan in me has to say “Just less than a bag of sugar!” here…) and easily transportable. To work it, you simply place a pod in the base, screw it in to place, fill with either 50ml or 80ml (for a double) of cold water and press the button, letting it do its stuff. You also have the option of using your own pre-ground beans or favourite blend through their ground coffee bowls. After about 3 minutes, your drink is good to go and the 15-18 bars of pressure make sure your coffee comes out perfect, complete with smooth crema on top.

You can get about 4-5 hot 50ml espresso’s out of this before you need to charge it up again and this takes about 3 hours or so using the USB-C cable provided. There’s no wall socket included so if you plan to take this in to the office for example, make sure you have a wall adaptor for charging it up. Of course this is no problem if you’re in the car with a USB-C socket but if you don’t have these, don’t forget your USB converter! You can also make cold-brew espresso’s, greatly extending the battery life or pour hot water in before compressing, saving time on the heating process. It’s a great brew either way.

RRP £109.66

Portable Coffee Machine Travel – 12v Car Espresso Maker with Battery for Camping