Sara Baird tests out the Staresso Coffee maker in the outdoors.
I love a good cup of coffee so much that I sometimes go to bed early to get to my morning cup sooner. Over the last few years, I’ve reduced my coffee consumption from drinking a 12-cup pot each morning to just one cup of good coffee. I am the only coffee drinker in my house, so I started looking for easy ways to brew one cup at a time. I’ve never been impressed with the single cup brewing machines and we travel often so I look for convenient ways to get that cup without paying a fortune or resorting to gas station coffee.
I have tried pour-over, cold brew with a coffee sock, and a French press, and found they each have different pros and cons. When Staresso reached out to ask us to try to Classic Portable Expresso Machine, I jumped at the opportunity.
Staresso
Staresso is an international brand, that specializes in fashionable and convenient coffee and tea devices. They operate in the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea. They currently offer three versions of their Expresso maker on their website. These include the Staresso Plus, the Classic, and the Travel versions. In addition to the expresso machines, they offer a variety of coffee accessories.
Staresso Classic Portable Expresso Machine
Staresso markets this expresso maker as a way to enjoy excellent coffee anytime, anywhere. It can brew either hot or cold brew expresso without power or batteries.
The basket can hold 10g coffee grounds or a 5-6g expresso capsule. It will brew 30-50ml of expresso with a generous crema. It comes with a measuring cup for your coffee, and a small brush to clean it.
Using the Expresso Machine
The day the expresso machine arrived, I pulled it out of the box and gave it a quick wash. It was easy to take apart and put back together. The instructions that came with it were simple to follow. In addition, there are clear video instructions on the Staresso Website. I made a lovely cup of expresso within 15 minutes of receiving the expresso machine in the mail. It was as easy as measuring my coffee grounds and putting them in the container. I assembled the rest of the expresso maker and added the hot water.
I pumped the machine until beautiful frothy expresso poured into the cup. I gave this first cup to my daughter, who loves coffee so much that she owns a fancy expresso machine, she said it had a wonderful crema and was a great cup of expresso. Over the next few days, I played with making cold brew, americano, and an easy oat milk latte and found that the Staresso was as easy to use as the pour-over I usually count on.
Camping with the Staresso
The true test of how portable this expresso maker was was taking it tent camping. We are fortunate to live just a few hours away from Lake Superior and all the beautiful camping opportunities on its shores. We packed up and headed to Wisconsin’s Lake Superior South Shore for three nights.
The cool thing about the South Shore of Lake Superior is that there are places where the water is warm enough to swim in for longer than a quick dip on the beautiful sandy shorelines.
We found a little campground right on the shore, all the campsites along the shore were taken, but we had a cute little wooded spot not far from the sandy beach.
Our first night was a little rough, we started traveling in a camper five years ago, and it turns out that our tent was no longer waterproof after sitting in our garage unused for so long. We set up our tent shortly before a thunderstorm and soon realized it was raining almost as hard inside our tent as outside.
I spent the night crammed into the car next to my husband, who is just too tall to sleep in our car. I was grateful to wake up to see he had heated water for me so I was minutes away from a great expresso. Even in my stiff and sleep-deprived state, I was able to brew a rich cup of expresso.
Later that morning as we were adventuring away from our campsite, I decided it was a two-cup day. I didn’t have a way to heat water but made a wonderful cup of cold brew with ice-cold artesian well water.
It was both energizing and refreshing to drink while watching the waves roll in on the beach.
My Recommendation
The Staresso Expresso Maker is super simple to use and clean. It consistently brewed a wonderful cup of expresso. I loved that it came apart, making it easy to clean. I was worried about the glass cup included but I accidentally dropped it as I was cleaning it at our campsite.
It dropped a foot from my hand to the picnic table, rolled off the table, hit the bench, then rolled onto the ground. Thankfully, it survived without a chip. If choosing the Staresso exclusively for camping and travel, I would purchase the travel version with a stainless steel cup and a carrying case to avoid this issue.
Sometimes dealing with coffee grounds can be difficult when camping. I’m cautious of this when using our camper kitchen because I don’t want to get grounds into the grey water tanks. The way the Staresso comes apart made it easy to take apart and empty into the garbage as soon as it had cooled down enough to touch it. The Staresso has been coming on all my travels this summer and when I go back to teaching this Fall, I will bring the Straresso with me to work on days I don’t have time for coffee in the morning or an occasional second cup.
Have you tried a portable Expresso maker? I would love to hear where you would use one. You can order your own Staress Expresso Maker here and check out all of their products at this Staresso.com.
Have your say
Do share your impressions of the Staresso Expresso maker in the comments below. What have been your experiences or thoughts when it comes to enjoying coffee in the outdoors? To read more of Sara’s experiences with outdoor products and services check out our Reviews Page.
Sara Baird
I am an adventurer at heart, always looking for the next opportunity to learn something new. I spend my winter days working with high school students to explore their interests and develop passions.
I spend my evenings and summers developing new hobbies and being outdoors as much as possible. I enjoy camping, hiking, cross country skiing, and biking.
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