WACACO Picopresso

Really impressive for such a compact machine. Once your grind is dialed in, it pulls great shots. The design is well thought out, everything packs neatly, and the included travel case makes it easy to take anywhere. Build quality is solid, with a mix of metal and plastic that feels durable and reliable. It’s quickly become my go-to for work and weekend trips.

I wanted to find a way to make espresso without buying a full coffee machine, so after some research I went with the Picopresso since it’s compact and fit my budget. After using it for a few months, I still really like it. It does take some trial and error to dial in a good espresso base. I usually preheat it with hot water once, use 18g of coffee with the provided basket, add hot boiling water, and pump quickly to build pressure. This gives me about 40ml of espresso with a really nice, dense body. I also appreciate that it provides a true hands-on espresso experience, complete with the included tamper, portafilter, and metal WDT tool.

That said, I’ve only managed to get real crema once when I used a dark roast my friend gave me. With lighter roasts, it’s much harder to build enough pressure for a consistent layer of crema. Still, after a few months I’m continuing to use it regularly, and when I pair it with my SUBMINIMAL NanoFoamer, I can make a nice latte with decent latte art. Overall, it’s been a fun and satisfying little setup!

My new favourite espresso machine

Perfect tool for great coffee on the road.
I am pleasantly surprised at how well designed this device really is. Even the way the dosing funnel, tamper, etc are stowed away inside the body for it's compact size.

Unreal, this little beauty is super easy to use and makes a great shot. I would love for it to brew a double shot, but other than that this is the best space saver I’ve purchased. I use it at home and work and it’s also a fun conversation piece- can’t wait to take it to the mountains.

After watching and reading many reviews I decided to buy this machine for camping and it is truly amazing how good the result is. With some fine tuning and refinement of the prep method, I can see it approaching being as good as a full espresso machine result. Seems to be built very well, with a solid feeling weight. Highly reccomend for a portable and affordable espresso machine.

Since I work from home a lot and miss having great Americanos I started to look at a way to make them at home. Both the cost and size of a full espresso machine was a barrier to me so I didn't think it was going to happen, until I saw the picopresso. It takes a bit of time and like any espresso machine a good grinder is your friend but the quality of the espresso that it makes is excellent. It took me very few attempts to dial in my timing and grind size and now I have consistently great espresso shots with real crema! I absolutely love this thing and use it everyday.

Amazing travel espresso maker!

My Picopresso from Nanopresso. It met and indeed exceeded my expectations. It initially seemed complicated to assemble and use, but it was simpler than I thought. I quickly learned how to use it. It’s very well built. And with my first use, I poured as good (maybe even better) a shot of espresso that I did with my Lelit E.

I am surprised by the quality of the shots i can get with this. It is very well built and very compact, the only issue i could see is that it gets hot to the touch while brewing so you might need to wait if you want to pull multiple shots in a row.

I enjoyed my coffee every day with my picopresso. Highly recommend!!

This seems to be a very well built product with the machined metals and sturdy plastic. Makes a great espresso on the go, especially for someone like me who works in various remote locations and doesn't have access to standard espressos. Recommend!

I was using it everyday since February 2022 and it just broke today, July 2022. Unfortunately, they didn’t use metal parts on the main body where the portafilter screws over and the screw in plastic broke at the tip.

I love this little thing. It really delivers excellent espresso in a tiny package. That said, it's not flawless. The shower screen would really be better if it stayed in one place and I find the tamper and funnel snare just a little bit messy. I find bottomless shots tend to channel a bit as well.

Still, overall I think this is a great travel coffee device and punches above its weight. I expect to carry mine for years to come.

Bought this on the recommendation of several coffee Youtubers. Have been very impressed, and it actually has led to better coffee from my home setup as well.

My very first shot made me say "Wow!" I was expecting a decent coffee, but was not expecting the quality that I got. Did I get lucky? Probably, as I have not had a 100% success rate due to the usual variables, but those aren't a fault of the Nanopresso.

I have a couple quibbles - the abundance of parts that could easily be misplaced in a campsite or on the road and the slightly awkward fit of the water reservoir lid.

I look forward to my next road trip or camping holiday where I will be able to enjoy a next level coffee.

As for my home shots improving - I wondered how I was getting good coffee from a device that wasn't as hot as my home espresso, so I turned the temp in my home machine down, and things improved there.

Great tool for camping, produce great result also. You just need to watch for a proper temp.

I live in Vancouver, and space in my apartment is limited, so I was looking for the most space saving way to make espresso at home. Real espresso. I bought a Nanopresso, and I enjoyed it for this purpose, but the pressurized portafilter actually brings the quality of the coffee down. I bought the Picopresso on a whim and paired it with a K4 Grinder (you need to be able to grind down to real espresso fineness for the Pico) and the quality of the coffee is substantially better from the Pico.

My tips:

-If you’re drinking an unmixed espresso from this, you’ll need to put boiling water in the Pico while you get everything ready. Then dump it out and fill it with boiling water right before pulling a shot

-You will need to figure out the grind size through trial and error, and if you go too fine it will clog

-I have not had issues with it being too hot to hold, but it’s a common complaint

I purchased this as a way to make espresso in a small apartment, and it EASILY beats the espresso coming out of any home machine under $500 since most of those will have pressurized portafilters and a slew of unnecessary features (like bad steamers, bad water tanks, single boilers, etc)

A great advance on the AeroPress idea which is well thought out with a single skin basket, basket funnel & a nice aluminium tamper.
The option of using the basket 'blind' is a nice touch.
It needs 3 fills of boiling water to get it up to temperature which makes it hot to handle & pumping is a work-out when used with a fine grind.
But it makes a better shot than my Breville home machine once you work out grind, dosing & tamp pressure.

High quality parts and tolerances
Well designed
Works as advertised, but naturally you have to get the details right…but that’s part of the fun. I’d like to see a higher-end version with an insulated vessel on top and an insulated tip and bottom tank and a screw on insulated cup for the bottom. And all metal brew path. But these are wish list things. Love this thing.

This little device is fiddly - gotta get your grind fine and there’s lots of pieces. But if you don’t mind that you’ll get a stunning coffee wherever you have access to hot water.