The Handpresso | Travel Gadget Review

This week: Handpresso

Are you ready to explore the world as a volunteer?! You might miss the basic things of life, while you are away and on a budget! That’s why I track a great gadget, that I think is great for all of you coffee lovers: the Handpresso!

If you are doing volunteer work abroad, you might want a cup of coffee at the freshest hour of the morning. But, not everyone -willingly- spends money everyday for coffee; and/or you might be on a budget, while you are doing volunteer work. And, what if you don’t have a coffee machine available!? Well, I have a solution for you: Let me tell you all about the Handpresso.

What’s the Handpresso?

It is a portable, manual espresso machine, that uses the latest technology to serve you a great cup of espresso, without need of electricity or batteries. The only thing it needs is hot water and ground coffee or coffee pads! So, it gives you the possibility to have a quality cup of coffee, no matter where you are!

Why do we think the Handpresso is great for your volunteer trip?

If you are a coffee fanatic -like I am!-, and cannot properly wake up without it, then there’s absolutely no question: just take the thing with you everywhere you go! The Handpresso will serve you a quality cup of espresso in less than 5 minutes.

I thought about it, and  I considered these to be some of the advantages of the Handpresso portable coffee maker:

• It is fairly lightweight -480g- for an espresso machine.
• It doesn’t require batteries or the use of electricity.
• You decide, when you drink your coffee -because you like to feel like you are in control of your life decisions!
• You don’t have to waste a fortune to get the Handpresso (or to buy your daily cup of coffee).
• The Handpresso comes in a variety of size and colors, which makes it a fun item to carry around! The one I used (the Handpresso Pump Pop Pink), was 22 x 10 x 7cm. (Sorry, America! I don’t know what this is in inches).
• You can drink coffee with others and share this little time of joy!

Why couldn’t the Handpresso work for you?

Let’s face it! When you are travelling, lots of us do not like to carry around unnecessary things, so the Handpresso might not be for everybody. So, I thought to might consider these disadvantages of acquiring the Handpresso machine beforehand:

• If you don’t have space in your bag for extra weight.
• If you don’t believe in coffee!
• You will need to heat water with another device (water heater, cooking stove, etc.) to have warm water, to actually have a decent cup of coffee; since the Handpresso does not warm the water itself.
• You will need to carry either coffee pads or ground coffee to use the Handpresso.
• If you are against any kind of physical work, you won’t probably enjoy having to pump the handle of the Handpresso. I mean: is not a work-out; but if you hate it, you hate it, amirite?

My personal opinion

I thought this was an awesome device to carry around, and it is an alternative to buying coffee on the streets, or at a shop. This is especially beneficial if you are on a budget, you travel a lot and you L-O-V-E coffee! But, it can be rather unpractical, because you need to heat up the water, before use! But this should prove to be a non-issue for people who have a water heater (or similar devices) available.

1. 

   Add warm water. Preferably, water that has been heated to up to 90ºC. Or, if you don’t have a thermometer around, just heat water up until it is close to boiling.

2. Place a coffee pad or ground espresso coffee.
3. Pump the Handpresso (like a bicycle pump) until you hit the 16 bar.
4. Serve your coffee and enjoy!

For more information about the use of the Handpresso, check out their website. They really have cool things there.

We hope this little introduction to the Handpresso can be useful to you! We know volunteering is a great thing to do, and you should give your very best, while you’re at it!

That’s why we want to recommend you products that you can use; products that will only enhance your trip. So, you can now focus on what you reaaaally want to do: either if this is helping another person, or campaigning to save the environment, or aiding a community!