Portable Electric Espresso Machine, Ground Coffee & Capsule, Self-Heating, 20 Bar 12V Mini Car Travel Coffee Maker with 9000mAh Battery-Ideal for Camping, RV, Hiking, Office

This review is for the Brevoy Portable Electric Espresso Machine (Color - Camping Green). I received a free taxable sample of this espresso machine to review as I was intrigued to see if a portable electric espresso machine could deliver decent espresso.The portable espresso machine arrived in a nice two-layer box bound with a branded and decorated paper sleeve and can be gifted as is within a gift bag or wrapped in gift wrap with a gift tag. Inside the box were the main brewing unit with lid, portafilter, cup, coffee capsule adapter, single shot espresso basket, double shot espresso basket, single shot scoop-tamper, double shot scoop-tamper, double shot funnel, needle distributor, USB-C to USB-C cable, user guide, and instructions cheat card.The main brewing unit weighs 504 grams with a 3” maximum diameter and individual height of 6 ⅜”. The combination of the brewing unit covered with the lid (42 grams, 3” top diameter, ¾” height) and sitting on the cup (37 grams, 2 ¾” diameter, 2 ⅞” height) measures 9” in height. The overall design and operation of this portable espresso machine is well thought-out and basically revolves around filling and attaching the single shot espresso basket (28 grams), double shot espresso basket (39 grams), or capsule adapter (33 grams) to the universal portafilter (44 grams), screwing on the portafilter, filling the reservoir with water, capping the unit, and then dispensing the coffee. I like that the water reservoir is a brushed stainless steel with markings for 50ml, 70ml, and “MAX” whereas most of the unit is made out of what feels like some sort of industrial grade thermoplastic.I first tried out this espresso machine to brew a double shot of espresso by snapping the funnel onto the double espresso basket and filling it with 17 grams of a dark roast I freshly ground for espresso. I like that the double shot scoop-tamper is sized by design to fit through the bottom of the funnel which helps prevent the grinds from getting all over the place. This amount of coffee was actually a bit hard to tamp down to the point where the basket lid was flush with the basket, but it was close enough that I was able to place the basket into the portafilter and screw the portafilter into the main brewing unit. Once screwed on it was easy to place the unit onto the cup, fill the reservoir with 70 ml of water, cap the unit, hold the power button for two seconds, and then wait five minutes for the unit to heat up the water and complete dispensing. The unit is actually fairly quiet when heating up and dispensing, easily much quieter than a traditional espresso machine. The end result was an actually pretty decent cup of espresso with an okay body and some level of crema for looks that I could probably improve on through adjustments to the grind level, coffee amount, and water amount. Note that there was about 4 ml of water left in the reservoir after the extraction that could be drained out or dispensed using the manual dispensing option (two clicks of the power button).Using the machine to extract coffee from a capsule was also easy and started by first placing the coffee capsule into the adapter, turning the adapter upside down and placing it into the portafilter, screwing on the portafilter, placing the brewing unit onto the cup, filling the reservoir with 50 ml of water, capping the unit, and then again waiting for five minutes for the unit to heat up the water and dispense after holding down the power button for two seconds. The end result was pretty much as you’d expect with an okay capsule coffee, but nothing close to what you’d get from a shot of espresso using freshly ground coffee. That being said, the tradeoff between using ground coffee and capsule coffee is one of taste versus convenience as you would have to source and grind your own beans instead of just conveniently carrying them around in a capsule. Note that the adapter is sized for original line capsules with a width of 1”.Overall care and maintenance have been fairly easy and straightforward as the device can be charged through a covered USB-C on the opposite side of the power button. A fully charged brewing unit will have four out of four indicator lights illuminated after a quick press of the power button, and each extraction whether ground or capsule has decreased the total charge by one light. This suggests a fully charged unit would probably be good for four full-cycle extractions in real life, although I would recommend at least charging when you get down to one indicator light of charge. Cleaning the machine is also fairly easy, and I like that the main brewing unit is waterproof such that you can basically separate the portafilter and lid from the unit and rinse everything down nice and easy.All in all, this is a nicely designed espresso machine that adds an element of portability for having a decent cup of espresso or acceptable cup of capsule coffee. I recommend this as a nice espresso tool option that you can use during picnics and outdoor walks to have fresh espresso at your own convenience and doing.

This is basically having a portable nespresso style maker in a portable wireless handheld machine. I got pretty deep into the various ways to make coffee during the pandemic; V60, chemex, aeropress, hand grinding, recipe tweaking, lots of James Hoffman videos, the works. Now getting this machine I did not expect it to give me a professional espresso, but regardless, portable heating, battery operated, bottle sized, is right up my camping kit alley. The trick here is the way you pack the grounds and tamp it into the cup. Too much and the machine wont produce anything, too little and it will be under extracted. I have been using size 9 grind on my Baratza Encore and using 10 grams, tamping to 10mm off the rim of the cup where the grounds go in the double espresso sized cup. Then I fill the water to the max line. I usually try to use preboiled water so that the battery lasts longer. If I have to use the machine to heat water, I will use a nespresso pod since I would be using it outside and the convenience with a pod is better than carrying coffee and a grinder. While it is extracting, when the water gets down to the 50ml, I fill it up to the max line as fast as i can pour. This creates a nice amount like a lungo pull on an espresso machine. You get more crema than a nespresso, but the strength is more like a nespresso than an espresso. Grind size and tamping is where you need to be consistent to get consistent results. Love the ease of use, ease to clean, and overall part of my everyday carry so I can have something consistent anywhere I go. Great machine for anyone looking for this niche product!

Okay, I am fully willing to admit a high likelihood of user error here. For the life of me, though, I can't seem to produce anything even approaching "drinkable" when using my own coffee. I'm talkin' pour-it-down-the-drain undrinkable. Why I'm so sure it's user error is that every shot I've produced with a Nespresso-style capsule has been decent enough.... but listen y'all, I tried. I roast my own beans, and I prepare my own water from distilled + minerals, and I've got three different quality hand grinders. I've tried grinding to hit popular timings for espresso shots, as well as trying to match the timing of the ~18 seconds of a Nespresso pod running through the thing. Something just isn't clicking for me....but again, highly likely a case of user error that I simply failed to diagnose throughout my testing. I'll probably try it again in the future, but it got to feeling too wasteful on these Ethiopian beans I've been loving far too much to continue doing that to. For now, the machine is relegated to capsules, and that's perfectly fine by me, and I suspect most people seriously considering this one themselves are going to be looking at it much the same.Build quality seems good with all the components feeling quite robust and durable. Cleanup was a breeze for capsules, and a bit more involved for ground coffee. Using it couldn't be simpler. Usability-wise my only actual complaint was that the hot water from my kettle would fog up the metal water reservoir, preventing me from seeing the markings, a problem which can be circumvented by being sure to pour a little water directly on the markings first.For me the machine will largely exist to crank out a quick cup when I don't have time for anything else. From the start of heating my kettle until my first swallow is only about 3 minutes, and that aint too bad when compared to more about 6-7 minutes for a pourover or 12 minutes for a 10-minute AeroPress brew à la Jonathan Gagné's recipe. Not quite sure how I feel about other usecases for it, such as camping or a carry-to-work, largely because of how much battery life is impacted by heating within the unit rather than using a kettle, not to mention it's a bit bulky and heavy when compared to some other travel-friendly alternatives.On the whole, I'm glad I tried it out and would certainly recommend it if you plan on using it with capsules at a place you'll be able to leave it.

The media could not be loaded. Although this product arrived quite late, I was still very much looking forward to it! However, it seems to not match the description. When I press and hold for two seconds, it doesn't extract! I’m not sure why. Double-clicking also doesn’t work for extraction. So how exactly do I operate this machine to get it to extract? Could it be that I received a faulty device? Occasionally, if I press a few times, it might extract a little, but the coffee turns out cold, and it doesn’t seem to heat up at all. After extraction, there’s still a lot of water left in the machine! It’s really a terrible experience! I do not recommend buying it!