Every time I go camping with Harry, that bloke sees me going home with a bigger list of gear I just NEED to have. In fact, it's become such a problem that I've decided to start up a new series of blog posts about it, kind of replacing what GEAR ENVY used to be; passing on the envy to you guys!
So Harry isn't the type of bloke to just smash a few spoons of Blend 41 in a mug and call it a beverage. That's me… so one time Harry asks me to bring along my inverter. 1000 watts; enough to run the milk frother for which he is yet to obtain a 12 volt equivalent.
It's the Handpresso Auto E.S.E, obtained by Harry off eBay for $180 delivered. Being the auto model means it's powered by a standard cigarette socket in his cruiser, using the power to heat the water and drive the 16 bar pump. There is a manual version available also requiring that you fill it with hot water and pump it by hand, but bugger that.
This bad boy uses pods that are rather like coffee bags, which in turn are rather like teabags. Pretty cheap too at about 8 bucks for 25 of them.
The machine isn't as quick as my Nescafe Blend 41, but hey they call it instant coffee for a reason! The brew it pushed out is certainly better than anything I make at home, and this thing kicks the area of some nasty brews I've got from coffee shops over the years.
Given its size, ease of use and taste of coffee….I want!
Is this thing still holding up mate? After all my coffee beans were all stuck together in the Victorian desert on the weekend, this looks like the go.
Harry has had it about a year I think, and it's just started becoming intermittent in its operation. But he does go camping A LOT, and does rounds of coffee for everyone. Handpresso are sending him out a replacement under warranty, but yeah the old still works! Just not every time.