If you like brewing coffee and are looking for some variety, you might be interested to know about Wacaco Minipresso. This article is about my journey with minipresso — what it is and how I like to brew my favorite cup of coffee with it.
My few initial cups of coffee out of this hand operated compact machine (minipresso) were not good, but I kept iterating to hit the sweet spot for my liking. I wanted to record the process for myself and share it with other enthusiasts.
First of all…
The Equipment
What is minipresso? As per Wacaco, the manufacturer brand, “Minipresso is the first piston-driven handheld espresso machine ever produced. A very unique coffee maker, fun and easy to use that makes great espresso anytime, anywhere.”
- The Equipment. Wacaco Minipresso GR (IN, US). The GR version is for the model that uses ground coffee. It also has an NS version that uses Nespresso capsules. Minipresso was invented by Hugo Cailleton who was unhappy with the quality of coffee during his travels. After the success of minipresso, Wacaco launched even smaller models called nanopresso (IN, US) and picopresso (US).
- The Brew Method. Like espresso this technique extracts coffee by passing pressurized hot water through coffee grinds. In this case the pressure is created by manual piston based pumping.
- The Output. Delicious shot of coffee, with crema! Must highlight, it is not as strong as standard espresso.
I received this strange device as a gift from my sister in law. Thank you Binny!!
While I am yet to use it during travel I find it super convenient to make a shot of coffee without needing a full size espresso machine. Once done, it is easy to quickly clean and stow away conveniently due to its compact size.
Note that not everyone will like this coffee. Coffee expert, World Barista Champion and my coffee guru — James Hoffman, holds a low opinion about this. But there are many, who will stand by the taste and talk highly about the convenience, including me.
My Style of Brewing
Now let me share how I prepare my favorite cup of minipresso. I am literally using an excel sheet and some A:B testing to come up with this. My recommendation below:
The Roast. Medium. I prefer medium roast in this brew method instead of darker roasts. I used and loved Hardoor estate coffee from Blue Tokai.
The Dose. 8 grams of coffee, same as brand’s recommendation.
The Grind. Espresso Grind size. I use 8 on Baratza Encore coffee grinder (IN, US). This grinder helps me get freshly ground coffee in every brew.
- Finer Grind. I tried the grind size 4 on Baratza Encore. Due to the smaller grind size, squeezing was really hard. It took more than a minute to pump out all the liquid. It also resulted in a bitter cup of coffee. Most likely because of over extraction due to the smaller size of coffee and hence a higher surface area for extraction.
The Water. 100 degree celsius, same as brand recommendation.
The Prep. Do one pass of hot water only through the system to get a warmer result in the next run.
The Process. It is a simple, straightforward process. Demonstrated quite well in this video by the brand.
- 8 grams of coffee sits easily in the filter basket, with a light tamping. It’s quite convenient to fill hot water and make the equipment ready for pumping. Pumping is not hard. It takes 20–30 sec to pump out all the liquid.
The Yield. ~32 grams as yield i.e. weight of extracted coffee). While I fill 60 ml, till the maximum mark, I choose to vary the amount extracted if I want a more concentrated cup or lighter.
- Some background, Espresso yield ratio is typically 1:1.15 to 1:2.5, which is the ratio of weight of coffee grounds to weight of extracted liquid (shot). Whereas Lungo yield is 1:2.5 to 1:4+. Here is a link to geek out on ratios.
- In minipresso, for 8 grams of coffee, squeezing out the whole 60 ml produces roughly 48g of liquid (i.e. 1:6 ratio). I tried other yields as well. Based on A:B testing, I found the 24g yield (1:3 ratio) a bit richer than the 40g yield (1:5 ratio). After 40 g yield the extract is quite diluted.
- The problem with the minipresso is that in case you prefer to have an espresso strength. The quantity per shot is much lesser due to the 8 g filter basket capacity. Espresso yield ratio of 1:2 provides only 16 g (~15 ml) of coffee, which is too little for me to enjoy. To get a ~30 ml shot — either you can prepare another puck and repeat the process to maintain espresso strength, OR go for a lungo strength, extracting 32–40 g of coffee at 1:4 to 1:5. I prefer the second.
The Coffee. I get roughly 30 ml (~32 gms) of coffee shot with a crema, at 1:4 yield ratio which is technically a Lungo.
All in all, I like the taste of the coffee and enjoy the compact size of the brewer, and I wish it could produce more coffee in one go.
Please let me know if you have a different style or have any tips/hacks to share. I would love to try.
A few key articles that can be useful:
