STARESSO Classic Manual Espresso Maker, 2 IN 1 Travel Coffee Machine

I've been really impressed with this espresso maker. I spent a lot of time looking for one that didn't have a lot of plastic touching hot water, and this was the best option I found at this price. There is still a little plastic in contact with the hot water, but it's minimal. I also like that the water chamber is stainless steel and the cup is glass. The portability is one of my favorite features. It's compact enough to throw in my bag, so I can take it to work, on trips, or anywhere I want good espresso. It works perfectly with Nespresso capsules and honestly makes the best espresso I've had at home. The coffee comes out rich, smooth, and with a thick, creamy crema every time. Very happy with this purchase. Five stars!

I used to have an electric high end espresso maker but once it failed I didn't replace it since I was the only one using it. When I came across this espresso maker I thought I would give it a try as opposed to buying a larger machine. The espresso maker comes packaged very nicely in a cardboard box, you slide out the "tray" and find the espresso maker nicely stored inside. The contents of the box was the assembled espresso maker, a bonus glass cup, instructions in many languages and a small brush to clean the filter with. It also comes with spare O rings as well as a measuring cup. The espresso maker is quite heavy, partly due to the heavy shot glass and partly due to the press itself. It's parts are made of black plastic, diamond textured rubber on the outside and stainless. The tank holds 2.7 ounces of water or liquids but does say the tank capacity is 3.38 ounces. The glass shot glass holds a total of 4 ounces giving you enough room for your fresh espresso and frothed milk if you so desire. The Instructions are lacking a bit for first time use, it has 3 pages in any given language - Assembly Diagram, Basic Instructions and Functions and Frothing Milk and Cappuccino. There is very little dialog so you do mostly rely on the images themselves, particularly for frothing milk. When you take the espresso maker out of the box you will find there is a clear sticker on the pump handle who's grammar is a bit crude. It tells you to immerse the pump into water prior to use to unlock it. To to unlock the press or pump handle you press on it lightly and rotate it slowly clockwise until the pump handle lifts out out of the press (after immersing it in water according to the label). The stem of the pump is shaped like a cross and so you must align this in the lid which allows the pump to lift up (you can't actually see this until the pump is lifted out of the espresso maker). To close it press the pump down after emptying the espresso maker and cleaning it, and then turn the pump either clockwise or counter clockwise until it locks into place. To make your own espresso you add your favorite coffee grounds, tamp those into the metal filter cup, fill the tank up with hot water (or cold) and assemble then begin pumping. It takes on average about 30 or so pumps depending on amount of coffee, as pressure builds in the tank it does become a bit harder to pump as pressure builds and it takes more than half of the pumps before espresso begins to spray into your cup, but it is worth it. Taste of espresso is going to rely solely on the grounds you use, darker blends will result in a darker espresso, lighter blends or beans will result in a lighter espresso. The machine also easily froths milk by taking the lid or pump off of the water tank and putting it directly into your scaled milk and pumping until desired froth is achieved. Clean up is fairly easy, just disassemble the espresso maker and rinse with hot water, dry and put away. Overall I love it! Yes it takes a bit of pumping to get it going, but it is very easy to set up and use as well as quite efficient, especially since it's not even electric. It's very portable so it's easy to take on trips or even camping and the box it comes in makes for great storage.

I’ve made probably a dozen shots now and I’m satisfied. Pros- *decent shot as I get from most places. Improving all the time as I refine it *Easy to clean! Thank you Staresso! *feels very high quality *very stable on counter while pumping Cons and needed improvements *little brush that comes with is plastic and the tip to push out the mesh in bottom of basket just doesn’t get the job done and in fact the tip broke off immediately. You need a little metal pin of some kind. *the spike to punch pods just doesn’t quite make it through most of the time. I think it needs to be just a smidge longer. I end up checking and always need to punch through manually with the same little thing I found to push out the mesh plate to clean *I like the little glass but I do wish it had just a tiny spout. Pouring from it is a little messy and I feel like I lose a little crema Overall highly recommend. Great for a small cortado or Affragato. I’m trying to get a second basket so I can pop a second one in to make two shots. I really should have gotten the 300 but an extra basket assembly set should work fine too. I’ve even done two pods in a row. Seriously equals most shots or espresso I’ve gotten at local coffee places. There is only one place here that makes a truly fine shot. So for the money I’m saving and not having to drive somewhere I’m super satisfied. I have no doubt I’ll get better at it too as I refine what I like. It’s extremely helpful if you are really taking it out and about to get pods but there definitely needs a little improvement on the punch function in the device, at least for the Peet’s pods I picked up. It just doesn’t get quite through. And the little brush needs definitely to be improved for pushing out the basket assembly innards. It simply doesn’t work. Plastic no bueno. Or at least THAT plastic. It’s not sturdy enough. The rest of the device is very sturdy and stable. Surprisingly easy to pump and use. If you like two shots though I highly suggest moving to the 300. I do kind of wish I’d gotten that although a little one shot cortado isn’t a bad thing either. Kinda nice if I have the yen but it’s late in the day. Biggest thing to remember is heat the chambers and glass up before using and pump some hot water into the pump. You’ll be a lot happier with the quality of the shot. It’s not a big deal to do. If you live in a small space this is really awesome.

As a coffee aficionado, I had given up on getting a great shot of espresso at home from a low cost machine. I had gotten rid of a commercial espresso machine due to space restrictions and have tried many smaller, cheaper espresso machines without any luck. I gave up and have been using an Aero Press for the last few years. It makes a decent cup of coffee but nowhere near espresso. When I found this little gizmo for under $50.00 I decide to give it a go. It works! It only took me a couple wasted shots to dial in the grind and, Voila! Perfect espresso. Rich creamy crema, robust heart and excellent flavor. Pre heating the gadget and your serving tasse is critical but easy. Clean up is simple and quick. The system looks to be very durable but only time will tell for sure, but at $40.00+/- if it needs replaced annually it's no great loss. I fill and tamp the filter cup twice so it is nearly completely full when tamped and fill the water reservoir completely with 190 deg, F water to produce an excellent double shot of espresso that is delicious straight or makes a very good Americano. The manufacturer claims it will froth milk as well. I have not attempted to do so as I do not drink cappuccino or Lattes. I doubt it can make decent cappuccino foam without steam, but it might make a decent Latte with heated milk. I travel extensively in my career. The Staresso pump and a Porlex Mini grinder travel with me now. Decent coffee beans can be found nearly everywhere now and most hotels have small single cup coffee makers that heat water quickly. Thanks to this little guy, I will never have to settle for lousy coffee in the morning while on the road. Pros: Extremely portable (takes up no space on the counter and travels in in your overnight bag) Excellent results Easy clean up Easy of operation Very low cost Cons: Single serving (first shot will be cold before a second shot can be produced) Requires a separate device to heat water Cannot steam milk Overall, I feel it is well worth the reasonable price tag and would recommend it to anyone who wants a low cost espresso maker

Update: Don't recomend this product at all. I used this product for maybe 10 pulls in total since I bought it. Today it exploded and the bottom broke off. This thing is dangerous. The Coffee: So like the title says, this is good but it does not make espresso. For coffee "snobs", this may be enough to curb your coffee cravings but the taste it produces is not espresso. I'd say the taste is closer to really strong drip coffee. Drip coffee as in the first 1/4 of the the pot before the rest of the water dilutes the concentration. But this is no fault of the product. To really get good espresso, you're going to need a machine that has high pressure and scalding water and there is nothing portable about that. So at the end of the day, it really depends on what you want. Decent cup of coffee or real espresso? I bought the item knowing that but what is quite disappointing is the amount of coffee it produces. To get something close to a double shot, you'll need to repeat the process twice. In hind sight, I should've known considering the size of the coffee ground holder. Dumping out the cup of grinds to refill and make shot #2 is plain difficult as the grinds still have water in them and you'll need to rinse everything and dry it before making the second shot. Overall, it can become a watery, gritty mess and it is a PROCESS to make two shots. The Cleaning: This thing has SO. MANY. PARTS. And it is a pain to clean and reassemble each time you make a cup of coffee. As we all know, coffee grinds, especially espresso grinds, are a pain when nooks and crannies are involved. This device has plenty of them. If you're someone with a lot of time or you want to dedicate 5-10 minutes every morning to just CLEANING the item, (Yes, you read that right. Just cleaning. Not making the coffee.) then this may be right for you. I am not someone who has a lot of time so this is not something I will be using much unless I'm desperate and it's 2AM in the morning. Yes, that unhealthy sleep cycle is my life. The Verdict: As someone who has used a commercial espresso machine for most of my life, the whole process of this device just takes too long. In the time it takes to produce 1 cup of decent coffee and clean up (about 20-25 minutes), I could've made 30 lattes. Also, with that much time, it would just be quicker and cheaper (or the same price if I was paid minimum wage) to go to a coffee shop AND I would actually get espresso. So do I recommend this product? If you're a coffee connoisseur or you're looking for something quick, no, I don't recommend it. If you're someone who has plenty of time and patience and is looking to save a few bucks because you drink 5 cups of espresso a day, sure. If you're traveling, just go to a local coffee shop. If you're hiking and must have coffee, this is perfect. The Shipping: The item came decently packed but the measuring cup for the coffee grinds was cracked. I assume it was broken during packaging. The measuring cup is stored inside the glass shot cup and the top part of the Staresso is screwed on top. If it is not placed just right in the glass cup, the top part will put pressure on the measuring cup handle and, as it is screwed on, the continuous pressure will cause the measuring cup to crack. The company needs to be more careful about this or find a different way to package the item. So after my essay of a review, if you're still interested in the product, here is another essay of tips: 1a. Fill the metal coffee grind container with LOOSE GRINDS, level it with the rim, then press the grinds down firmly. If your measuring cup isn't broken too bad, it is perfect for tamping. Otherwise, a metal teaspoon works fine. After tamping, fill the rest of the coffee grind container with loose grinds again, level it with the rim, and tamp it down a second time. I find that by having this much coffee, the wet grinds are more firmly packed together so clean up isn't as messy and the coffee tastes better because, duh, more coffee grinds. 1b. Keep in mind that when tamping the grinds, they should be firmly packed together but the grinds should not be rock hard. A good test is using a chopstick to loosen the grinds. If the grinds loosen with just a bit of pressure, it's done right. If you really need to dig in to loosen the grinds, you've tamped too much. If you over tamp, the water will not be able to seep through and you'll break the product. Keep in mind that this is a manual device, not a high pressure machine. But you do need to tamp to get decent coffee. 2. Make sure to use boiling hot water. The hotter the water, the better the coffee. 3. Make sure the glass cup that collects the coffee is hot. Preheat the cup by pouring hot water in it. If the glass is cold, the coffee will be lukewarm. 4. Preheat the metal part of the pump. Get a cup of hot water and submerge the entire metal part. Follow the instructions for milk frothing. This heats the metal parts so that it doesn't cool down the water while making the coffee. 5. After doing all of the above and you're ready to make the coffee, pump 3-5 times or until you see the first drop of coffee. Then STOP. Let the water really soak into the coffee grinds first before continuing. After 15-20 seconds, finish pumping until all the water is out of the chamber and you have a shot. 6. When uncapping the lid/pump, be careful. There is pressure in the chamber still and the top may pop up and some left over water may spray out. Make sure to pump the excess water out of the pump. 7. You may be tempted to just do a quick rinse and not disassemble it each time you use it but I don't recommend it. If you make multiple shots at once, it's okay to just rinse and use it right away. But if there is any prolonged periods of time between use, I recommend disassembling and deep cleaning it. The nozzles and holes in the strainers can get clogged very easily and will be more difficult to clean later than if you were to do it right away.

I was looking for a way to make cappuccinos and lattes at home and skip the line at the coffee shop and this does the trick. Overall I'm very satisfied with this espresso machine. It works exactly as expected and produces a rich espresso shot with a think crema. The chamber is big enough for a double shot, or you can use a nespresso type pod and make a single shot. It's extremely portable, especially if you leave the base and shot-glass behind. The clean up is not quite as easy I'd hoped because you have to pop the filter out of the coffee chamber with a small plastic pin and hot coffee will be leaking all over while you try to do this; although, if I'm doing back to back shots, I just rinse out the chamber and re-load it with coffee grounds. With some practice, it can be cleaned pretty quickly without too much mess. In a side-by-side comparison, the flavor of the espresso was better than the nespresso machine but not quite as good as my friend's Flair espresso press. For me, the price, portability, and the easy of use more than make up for the difference, and it's is much better than anything I would expect from a $60 machine. I didn't think I would use nespresso pods with it, but they turned out to be really handy while I was traveling. You can make great espresso in your hotel room and there is virtually no mess when using the pods, just pop it out. You'll never have to drink hotel coffee again! I'll definitely keep some pods on hand to take when I travel or go camping. (note: you'll need to puncture the bottom of the pod, so get the ones with foil on the bottom or make sure you have something sharp) Build quality is quite good, the only part I foresee having an issue with is the plastic pin that pops the plastic filter out. It's already a little bent, and it's only a matter of time before it breaks. After that, I'll just have to use a paperclip to push the filter out. Otherwise, the coffee chamber and pump seem to be stainless steel and the water chamber is heavy duty plastic similar to the AeroPress. I expect the key parts to last many years. Overall, great product. I would highly recommend for the casual espresso drinker looking for an affordable machine, or the espresso aficionado looking for a portable machine to take on the road or the trail.

Not easy to use in daily settings

First off don’t criticize me. I know the shot is too much. It was my second time using it and it was way over extracted. That being said it was still great coffee. I’m an amateur espresso maker. But have made thousands of shots at home with a real machine. I had to leave for work for 2 weeks and was craving espresso. I brought my Moka Pot but it wasn’t good enough. This thing works very well. I got the “Updated” one but nothing on the internet I could find explained what that meant. It has a different cup than in all the pictures. It looks like a beaker and probably does better with rapid changes in the heat than the old style cup. The threads on the device are difficult to get started and you have to be very careful when putting it together. The end of the pressure pump has to go straight in to mates with the hole at the bottom of the water chamber. Also I’m assuming the complaints about the bottom of the ports filter blowing off is from lack of cleaning. The disc at the bottom is hard to clean properly and it’s why they send a brush to scrub it. It creates extreme pressure and if the holes are clogged the machine has to vent the pressure somewhere. With some care and maintenance, this machine looks like it will last quite a while. Back to the extraction, the espresso flavor is as close as you will get to a real espresso in something that is portable. Here’s how I make the shot: I bring water to a rolling boil. While waiting take the scoop and place your coffee in the metal cup. Pack it down with the bottom of the scoop. I’m applying about 15lbs of force. Or half of what I use with my spring loaded tamper at home (I think it’s set to 30lbs). Load the coffee in the bottom of the machine and place it over the cup. Remove the boiling water from the stove so there are no more bubbles. I place the pump in the hot water and pump the water through the pump. That pre-heats the pump. Then I pour the water in the top about 3/4 the way up. If you only want to leave a little room on the top that’s okay too. You don’t have to pump all the water through. Screw the top onto the machine being VERY CAREFUL to align it completely straight. Then pump it about 9 time to wet the coffee. Wait 10-20 seconds then pump at about 1 pump per second till you extract exactly what you want. The new cup I got has graduated marks that makes this easy. Remember that before the cream settles to the top it will look like the extraction is more than what you really have. That’s it, enjoy it. Hope this helps.

Hey there, just wanted to share my thoughts on this portable coffee maker I recently purchased. As someone who loves coffee and is always on the go, this little gadget has been a lifesaver. First of all, it's super easy to use - I don't have to be a barista to get a delicious cup of coffee. Just add in my favorite coffee grounds and hot water, wait a few minutes, and press the plunger down. Voila! Perfectly brewed coffee every time. The best part is that I don't need electricity to use it, which makes it perfect for camping trips or when I'm out and about and don't have access to a power source. It's also incredibly portable - I can just toss it in my bag and go. And let me tell you, the coffee it produces is top-notch. It's smooth, rich, and just the right strength. I've even had a few friends try it and they were blown away by the taste. Overall, I couldn't be happier with my purchase. If you're a coffee lover who's always on the move, I highly recommend giving this portable coffee maker a try. It's a game-changer!

Very good coffee maker As machine results

Clearly a quality issue with this product - returning as the chamber got cracked after a single use.

We purchased this a year and 3 months ago ago as a gift for my husband he just started using it a couple of weeks ago. And it broke within 2 weeks. He liked it so much before it broke. Edit: they sent us the replacement parts and it is working again.

I’m an espresso guy and this product was made for people like me who can’t pack a full setup in their suitcase when they’re on the go. I’m impressed with the build quality, espresso quality, and the overall ease of use and cleaning of this device. Happy to pack this on short trips, and will likely keep it at the office for other times. Highly recommend!