Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Nanopresso is the Go-Anywhere Personal Espresso Machine You Need Now

Here’s the scenario: You’re driving down a long and lonesome highway somewhere in the Western United States. Maybe you’re on a road trip for vacation, maybe you’re blasting across the country to make it home for the holidays, or even worse, a funeral — either way, it’s very late and you can’t stop driving just yet. You’ve got to get at least a couple hundred more miles under your belt before you pull over for the night. You’re fading fast and you’re really wishing you had a shot of espresso to pick you up. Luckily, an out-0f-the-way gas station appears in the distance. You have a choice at this point: cheap gas station coffee or a hot and fresh cup of espresso made in the comfort of your own car with the ingenious little personal espresso machine, Nanopresso.

Alternatively, the story could be something like: You’ve been hiking for 12 hours and finally reached your campsite. You managed to build a fire, but are too tired to set up the rest of camp because you want a shot of espresso first. Again, Nanopresso is the answer.

But why? And how?

Nanopresso

What Is Nanopresso?

Put simply: Nanopresso is a portable, hand-powered espresso machine. Weighing less than a pound and sizing in at just over six inches in length, Nanopresso is a pint-sized powerhouse that can deliver cafe quality espresso in the time it takes to boil some water and extract a brew. But, coffee addicts may be wondering, how can a hand-held espresso machine deliver top quality coffee without a heavy-duty pressure extractor and steamer? The answer is in the extremely clever engineering and design of the device. Nanopresso is composed of a coffee basket, pressure chamber, extraction nozzle, pump, water reservoir, and espresso cup, all housed in a food-grade, hard-plastic casing.

Recommended Videos

How Does It Work?

To operate, simply add your grounds to the basket, screw on the cap, boil water, add that boiling water to the reservoir and attach to the Nanopresso. Once the seal is complete, pop-out the hand pump, and slowly begin pumping. Each pump should take about a second and the first 8-10 pumps are used primarily to build pressure within the chamber. Once the pressure has reached the optimum 18 bars (261 PSI) of stable pressure, the extraction process begins. After less than a minute later, your cup of steaming espresso is ready for your enjoyment.

It should be noted that Nanopresso does not heat the water itself. You must have hot (boiling) water from some other source in order to use Nanopresso, which should be easy on the trail using a camp stove and kettle or even on the road where every gas station has a boiling hot water spigot you can often use for free.

Nanopresso also comes with a few add-on options, like an NS adapter, allowing you to use espresso pods rather than having to deal with grinding and filling the coffee basket on your own, along with a barista kit, which includes a larger reservoir and cup to make more than just espresso.

Nanopresso
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nanopresso Barista Kit
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nanopresso NS Adapter
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Looking for a kitchen-based espresso machine? Look no further, friends – we’ve got all the best at-home espresso machines right here.

Chase McPeak
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chase McPeak is the former Lifestyle Editor. Chase regularly appeared on Beards, Booze, and Bacon: The Manual Podcast where…
SlingTV just made it easier to keep up with every March Madness game in real-time, anywhere you go
Sling TV debuts two new features that will make March Madness even better
how to watch march madness anywhere sports scores

 

For many people, spring means a vacation from school or work. It could signal the flowers are ready to bloom and the barbecue is about to exit the garage and settle in on the back porch. And for basketball fans, spring is the best time of the year! March and April are two of the busiest months to watch college basketball as the NCAA Tournament kicks off. May and June mean the NBA Playoffs will begin to determine the champion of the league.

Read more
Weed is now legal in Thailand: Here’s what you need to know
Is weed legal in Thailand? Yes! Here's what you need to know
Marijuana leaf held up to the sky.

Over the course of the past several decades, many have traveled to the sunny, laid-back climes of Thailand and thought all this place is missing is weed—myself included. For the sake of accuracy, weed always has been available there, but it has notoriously been accompanied by stiff penalties for those caught selling or enjoying it. And Thai prison is an infamously terrible place to end up. Marijuana laws around the world have been loosening up recently, however, leaving many to wonder—would Thailand legalize weed?

Then in 2022, a change finally came. I didn’t realize it until I was walking down the street in Chiang Mai and passed a shop that had the weed version of the Bat Signal: a glowing neon pot leaf. I stopped short. Wait—Is weed legal in Thailand?, I wondered aloud. And happily, yes, it is. To that end, here’s what you need to know.

Read more
These TikTokkers Are Making Orange Juice Espressos, Should You?
An outdoor breakfast spread that includes a pair of orange juices mixed with coffee.

In theory, mixing bitter coffee with tangy orange juice sounds like something a toddler would do: brown and orange? Sharp and bitter together? Believe or not, though, this unholy communion can be a smoky, sweet treat — given the right mix.

Search for ‘orange juice espresso’ on TikTok and you’ll stumble upon a stunning 527.6 million views. This includes over 1.6 million views from @bundaddy swearing that, "I have not seen one person who likes espresso and orange juice not like them together. You think that you won’t [like it] — you will."

Read more