Cafflano Kompresso manual espresso maker.
Is the worlds lightest, compact and most portable manual espresso maker all it's cracked up to be? Scroll down to read my thoughts and find out more.
Hi everyone Happy New Year. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year season? Welcome to the first blog entry of 2022. Sheesh, 2022! All I am saying is fingers crossed aye?
Like many of you. Christmas this year bought me a couple of new coffee gadgets alongside a couple of delicious bottles of rum, tequila and gin. One of those coffee gadgets is the worlds lightest, compact and most portable manual espresso maker capable of producing 9 bars of pressure.
Introducing the Cafflano Kompresso, which leads me beautifully into the main body of this months entry.
Are you ready? lets jump in.
The Drumming Barista is an online community of coffee lovers created by Sean aka The Drumming Barsita who is passionate about helping you brew better coffee at home through the wonderful world of social media. Share, subscribe, comment and come say G’day!
Let me start by answering two questions I know you are burning to ask:
1, Sean, is it worth it?
Yes.
But. This is a strong but! Only if you are in to coffee gadgets and understand the why behind how grind size, distribution and tamping make a difference to the extraction process of the coffee.
2, Sean, should I just save up and buy an espresso machine that has all the bells and whistles?
I have two answers to this question.
Yes. If you are just an everyday going coffee consumer who isn’t too worried about the end result in the cup and you haven’t got an extra 5 minutes in the morning. Also, If you are not looking for a compact and portable espresso maker you can take with you on holiday or camping.
If you are that person then keep reading.
No. If you aren’t keen in dropping on excess of $500-$3000 NZD and have limited space at home on the bench. This is the perfect device for you. Continue reading…
The Cafflano Kompresso which I have already touched on is portable and very compact. Alongside that, is super easy to clean, use and is super durable, like scarily durable! The pressure and force that is generated by the motion of pressing down the plunger of the Cafflano Kompresso is mind boggling: more on that later.
The Cafflano Kompresso can hold between 10-15g of ground coffee in the portafilter with a maximum 70g of water in the chamber and is capable of producing a 30g (double shot) espresso, when filled with the maximum amount of water. As I mentioned above Cafflano say it is capable of producing 9 bars of pressure, which is just mental! For those of you who aren’t aware 9 bars of pressure is what a commercial (cafe) espresso machine produces to push the water through the bed of 18-22g of coffee in a 58mm portafilter. Like, are you serious right now? haha!
I wish, I was able to comment on this some more on the pressure generated but unfortunately I can’t. (Most days I wish that I had James Hoffmann as a close friend (don’t we all haha) and he could connect some whacky science gismo up to it to measure the pressure and we could use his refractometer to measure the TDS (total dissolved solids) of coffee in the espresso shot that the Cafflano Kompresso produces).
All I can say is, it produces a crazy amount of pressure which results in me having to use my forearm to press down on it. I find that using my forearm produces the most consistent form of pressure and downward motion resulting in a well extracted espresso shot, which is both balanced, delicious and has a beautiful crema.
Pros some cons and then my recipe.
Lets start with the pros first.
I really enjoy it! I love the process of making espresso shots with the Cafflano kompresso.
The espresso shots that I have been extracting are fantastic. Super tasty, fantastic mouthfeel and drinking experience. It is easy to replicate this time and time again.
Easy to clean and store away.
Comes with a tamp that leaves the cafflano logo pressed into your coffee puck. Very nice touch Cafflano, very nice!
Cons
Finding the perfect grind size is very niggly. The smallest adjustment (fine or course) makes a big difference to the end result in the cup in terms of taste and how fast the crema dissipates.
The inbuilt shower screen has to be inserted in a certain way. If it is not installed correctly it becomes very hard to push the water through.
The inbuilt handles on the side of the plunger are to small. I have big hands and my hands slip off when pressing down.
Drinking an espresso from a plastic cup is never a nice experience. This last point is me being really particular and a complete coffee snob.
It is hard to come by over here in New Zealand and is catered for a very niche market.
The Drumming Baristas go-to Cafflano Kompresso Recipe.
The moment you have all been waiting for and the one part you all love so much. My go-to recipe. Without further adue here it is:
Weight out 14.5g of coffee and grind it for espresso. (table salt consistency).
Pre-heat the portafilter and small cup and wipe it clean.
Spoon or scoop in your coffee to the portafilter.
Grab your tamp and tamp as hard as you can.
Screw on the water chamber and pour in 70g of water.
Place the plunger on top and press down until you see coffee start to drip. Start your timer and let it pre-infuse for 15 seconds.
After 15 seconds, press down with your forearm slowly for 30 seconds.
Unscrew the cup and enjoy your espresso.
So there we have it guys.
My full review and comments on the Cafflano Kompresso after a month of use. So now I would like to hear from you? Do you have one of these or have you used one? What was your experience? Have I missed anything you wanted me to cover? Do you have any other questions?
Drop me a comment below or come over to Instagram and say G’day I would love to hear from you!
Big love
Sean
The Drumming Barista
nice review! I've been keeping a keen eye on your journey on the IG, and I'm very interested in getting one. I think you hit the nail on the head - espresso in itself is a hobby right! So many variables to adjust, play with, experiment with - a very large rabbit hole to fall down :D let's hold hands and fall together!