The Handpresso Wild Hybrid is a pump action manual espresso maker that uses either ground coffee or E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso) coffee pods; it’s very portable and easy to use, but can it make a decent espresso?
The Handpresso looks rather like a small bike pump, but with a coffee filter and small water tank added. The operation is a little different depending on whether you’re using an E.S.E. coffee pod or ground coffee, but the principle is the same in either case and the instructions are easy enough to follow. You pump the device up to 16 bars of pressure; the pressure gauge has a green zone to indicate the correct pressure. Then add 50mL of freshly boiled water to the tank, put in the pod or coffee using the appropriate adapter and screw the water tank in.
To dispense a cup of espresso, you simply turn the unit over, position it over a cup and press the infusion button. The pressurised air then forces the water through the coffee and into the cup.
Unfortunately, the actual coffee it makes is very weak, even when using top-quality freshly ground beans. What little crema it produces is bubbly and vanishes rapidly. The coffee tastes watery and has a pretty poor flavour and after-taste. You may be able to get some improvement with practice, but anyone used to good espresso coffee, whether home-made in your own espresso machine or from a favourite coffee shop, is likely to be disappointed in the Handpresso.
CHOICE verdict
The Handpresso Wild Hybrid is best suited to travellers, but you still need to be able to to boil water, whether you use a hotel room kettle, a camp stove or a billy over a campfire. Depending on your options for boiling water, you’ll likely find better coffee from other types of coffee maker – such as a Bialetti-style stove-top espresso maker, a French press coffee plunger, or even a traditional briki for Greek or Turkish coffee – and at a much lower price than the Handpresso. However, these don’t give you the option of using coffee pods. If using pods suits you best, then the Handpresso may be worth a look.
In my current role I manage a range of product review projects for CHOICE. Most product reviews are done here in the CHOICE labs, but my focus is on those projects where we partner with external labs or data sources.
For some product types, CHOICE doesn't have the facilities to perform testing, and usually it wouldn't be practical or economic for us to build them. So we partner with other expert labs for some tests, including solar panels, electric heaters, air purifiers and detergents. For some other projects we make use of government energy registry data, including air conditioners and heat pump hot water systems.
I also manage our testing services through our commercial arm, Test Research, and I'm CHOICE's NATA Authorised Representative for all matters relating to to our lab's formal accreditations. I'm involved with the standards committee for air conditioners. I often liaise with government and industry in areas such as product safety and regulation.
In over 20 years at CHOICE, I've had a variety of positions, writing content and managing lab teams for a wide range of products, including children's products, kitchen appliances, laundry appliances, garden power tools and more.
My background is in science and technology. I have a science degree from the University of Sydney and I had a 15-year career in IT before joining CHOICE in 2004. CHOICE lets me exercise both sides of my brain; there's nothing I like better than diving into a stack of technical data and turning it into useful, consumer-friendly info for you, our members. (Though sampling pizza and scones from our oven testing is pretty nice, too.)
You can find me on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn.
In my current role I manage a range of product review projects for CHOICE. Most product reviews are done here in the CHOICE labs, but my focus is on those projects where we partner with external labs or data sources.
For some product types, CHOICE doesn't have the facilities to perform testing, and usually it wouldn't be practical or economic for us to build them. So we partner with other expert labs for some tests, including solar panels, electric heaters, air purifiers and detergents. For some other projects we make use of government energy registry data, including air conditioners and heat pump hot water systems.
I also manage our testing services through our commercial arm, Test Research, and I'm CHOICE's NATA Authorised Representative for all matters relating to to our lab's formal accreditations. I'm involved with the standards committee for air conditioners. I often liaise with government and industry in areas such as product safety and regulation.
In over 20 years at CHOICE, I've had a variety of positions, writing content and managing lab teams for a wide range of products, including children's products, kitchen appliances, laundry appliances, garden power tools and more.
My background is in science and technology. I have a science degree from the University of Sydney and I had a 15-year career in IT before joining CHOICE in 2004. CHOICE lets me exercise both sides of my brain; there's nothing I like better than diving into a stack of technical data and turning it into useful, consumer-friendly info for you, our members. (Though sampling pizza and scones from our oven testing is pretty nice, too.)
You can find me on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn.
