The tiny, cool, Wacaco Picopress coffee maker in action!

How to Use Wacaco Picopresso

Well, Cindarella you may or may not be able to go to the ball.  But at least you can have a delectable cup of espresso whenever you want with the Wacaco Picopresso - a small, handy sized, manual espresso maker. It's portable, simple to use, and ideal for coffee drinkers who are constantly on the move. We'll go through the fundamentals of using the Wacaco Picopresso and brewing the ideal espresso in this guide.

Some details before we get into the usage points.  This compact little device is only 10cm high and everything fits into its little travel case.  It's 350g in weightg as well so will fit pretty much into any travel bag without taking too much weight or space.  We say its for "people on the go" - if you're a person on the go and you want great coffee wherever you are then this is for you.  However, whilst it is not complicated to use - it can be a little "fiddly".  There's lots of "bits" to keep track of and use - so whilst this would be perfect in your tent, caravan, hotel room, office desk ... we're not sure its totally practical on the North face of the Eiger in a force 8.  

It does create great coffee however, so if you do need your espresso half way up the Eiger - make sure you have plenty of space, time and your fingers are not cold.  Making coffee with this device with thick mittens on will be a challenge.

We do recommend it however for travelling and holidays and camping.  The Wacaco Picopresso turns out great coffee, is very compact, and would be a perfect for office use, a gift for a coffee addict, or even a cool, compact device to impress your friends and influence people.  Nothing says cool like a small, compact, coffee maker!

The Wacaco Picopresso
 On to the guide - we told you it would be a little fiddly - 
Wacaco Picopress Guide
 

Step 1: Weigh your beans.  Ideally using scales that weigh to 0.1 grams, weigh 16-18g of coffee beans.

Step 2: Grind coffee.  Make sure to grind your coffee beans to a espresso level grind, resulting in an ultra fine powder which is ideal for espresso level extraction.
Step 3: Remove the portafilter cover, unscrew the portafilter and remove the shower head. Also, remove scoop from inside the basket.  Unscrew the top water tank lid above the pump handle. Then remove the tamper, funnel and distribution tool.
Step 4: Fill with coffee.  Put the funnel on top of the basket, and fill the basket with ground coffee. Then use the distribution tool to even out grind and negate channelling. Use the tamper and press down until the top of the tamper touches the top of the funnel. Then remove funnel.
Step 5: Pour your water.  Unlock the piston so its all the way out, and add boiling water to the water tank. Pump all the water out for a pre-heat cycle.
Wacaco Picopresso photo
 

Step 6: Place basket inside portafilter, then put shower head on top. Screw the portafilter onto the rest of the unit tightly. Then add boiling water to the water tank. Screw water tank lid back on top.

Step 7: Brewing.  With the Picopresso above your cup, start pumping the piston with one hand on the vessel and one hand on the pump. Pump 8 times and wait around 10 seconds for a little pre infusion; a very small amount of coffee drip appearing in the mesh. Resume pumping until you have reached around 36g of espresso in the cup below.
 Hand-pumping the Wacaco Picopresso
 

Step 8: Enjoy your delicious, speciality, artisanally roasted coffee anywhere!  (Almost anywhere ... )

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