Hello From Minneapolis.....we are half way through the trade show at the SCAA after day one and plan to do the rest tomorrow then return to our favorites for a second round on Monday. We sampled the most delicious cup of coffee using the cold slow drip method, from Japan, from an outrageous and beautiful glass coffee maker which dripped room temperature water through finely ground coffee VERY slowly . 3 liters water passed through 100g coffee takes 6 hours but what a clear cup with no acidity and very sweet. Nice to learn how the other half lives, and drinks. Hario glass makes a smaller version which we fully intend to check out for this summer's iced coffee season!
And the best gadget of the show, in our opinion is the Handpresso. The demo guys had people lined up slack jawed at a totally portable 12 bar hand pumped espresso maker....used ese pods and a thermos of hot water for a very good (at least better than any of the shops we stopped at on the 1500 mile trip here), no muss no fuss and we are leaving here with one if we have to break the guys arm. Only available in Europe until now, and will be on sale here sometime in June but with about 5000 more miles of road trip to go we think we can give it a good road test. Priced reasonably if you consider just what you would give for a good shot of espresso while driving across North Dakota, you betcha!
Barb and Doug

I've seen this advertised here, kind of averse to pods in general though, keep hearing very damning comments on pods.

WTB that Japanese thingie though for sure, what's the model called?

You mean like this? This setup is at Bluebottle's Coffee Company's café in San Francisco.

As far as the Handpresso is concerned, I thought it was already available here in the States -- at least, I've seen adverts for it online from stores here in the US.

Ah, well . . . just keep saying to yourself "it's a hand pump, not a lever" -- take a double from your Caravel, and call me in the morning . . .

PodMerchant has been selling Handpressos here for a couple of months already. I'd love to get a closer look at one to check out build quality before breaking out the wallet. What was your sense of this?

No luck wresting one from the show...said they needed them all for other trade shows... Usually adverse to pods here too, but, when in dire need...even a pod pump might be an improvement over some of the 'espresso' we've had on the road!

As far as build quality, it felt quite sturdy, good, straight pumping mechanism, seemed quite easy to use, and not messy - easy for repeatable, quick results. Not really a true crema-concoction, but a reasonable cup for a pinch. It is heavy weight, the body is metal, and the pod holder is plastic. The finish is even overall. There were 2 in continuous use for the 2 days that we were there, about 6 hours each day. The US sales manager, who is from France, was very knowledgeable about espresso overall. They brought in a 3rd guy for the demos, and likely did several thousand shots each - constant use. At the end of the day the handpresso didn't look as though it had made more than one or two - no visible wear at all. Our thoughts were for travel/camping use only - it would never be a good substitute for a real machine for home use. A thermos for hot water at a fuel stop, and you could easily make quite a few shots on the road with no problem, and only the pod to toss in the trash (and that could be composted if you really wanted to).

We have done quite a lot of long distance travel through areas with little, or no population center - Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana - a lifetime across Texas. We have a hand grinder & an alcohol Stella on board, and while rolling down the road, we have been known to have Stella flaming away on the floorboards in the front...makes a nice strong cuppa, sometimes burntish, especially when you can't find the snuffer to put the flame out! A little too much excitement - imminent immolation may have done more to wake us up than the coffee did! There is something dubious about making coffee when you have to yell FIRE IN THE HOLE before serving it! And, our car just doesn't make enough extra electricity to power the 220V Caravel....

Yes - The water dripper is just like the one in your photo Zin! It is made by Oji (but I haven't found the model or info on it yet!)