Wacaco Picopresso review

Rich, textured doubles from a real basket, cooler than a machine's and sour on light roasts7.6/10

The Picopresso makes real espresso, and shot quality is widely liked. The basket is unpressurized and takes a proper double dose, and the cups come out rich, with body and crema. Coffee Chronicler calls the shots "remarkably smooth and rich with a good amount of texture"1. In a side-by-side tasting at bikepacking.com, the table agreed it "more than held its own"2 against a commercial La Marzocco.

Heat is the limit. There is no heating element, so the body has to be preheated with boiling water, and Tom's Coffee Corner still found the shot a little cooler than a traditional machine's3. Medium and darker roasts cope well. Light roasts do not: ARAMSE ran multiple preheat cycles and the coffee "still tasted sour and a tad under extracted"4.

The stock basket is the other reservation. It favors texture over clarity, and Lance Hedrick finds it leaves something to be desired. Kyle Rowsell says he "cannot recommend enough upgrading to a precision basket"5. One firm dissent comes from ProReview Hub, which judged that it loses heat too quickly to count as an espresso maker at all.

A fine grind, a weighed dose and a pump with no gauge3.9/10

The workflow is the clear weakness. Every shot needs a fine, even grind from a capable grinder, a weighed dose, a preheat and a steady hand on the pump. Grind slightly too fine and it clogs; change the dose a little and the cup changes with it. The Trek, a firm fan of the coffee, is plain about the cost.

“The process to produce quality espresso on this machine is not straightforward. If you buy the Picopresso, be prepared for a long period of adjustment.”

The pump is where most of the grumbling lands. There is no pressure gauge, so you judge by resistance, and Lance Hedrick admits "you are kind of flying blindly there"6. The effort climbs as pressure builds. Daddy Got Coffee warns that by the end of a shot "you're probably going to be feeling it in your forearms and your hands"7.

There is a kinder reading. The Basic Barista calls the design "fairly straightforward and user-friendly"8, and Kyle Rowsell finds the process easy even though he dislikes the pump. Boiling a kettle is quicker than waiting for a home machine to warm up, and cleanup is a rinse under the tap. The water chamber is small, so long shots are out, and The Trek found the unit much easier to control on a stand.

0.77 lb in the palm, with a grinder, beans and a kettle still to carry8.2/10

Nothing that makes espresso this good is easier to pack, and portability is widely liked. The Picopresso weighs 0.77 lb and sits in the palm of a hand9. The funnel, tamper and other accessories nest inside the body, and the whole kit zips into a fitted case that suits carry-on travel.

The maker is only part of the load. Cabeen's Coffee Corner lists what else goes in the bag: a grinder, the beans and a way to heat water10. There is no cup included either. Away from a kitchen, the precision the shots need is harder to manage, and hot water cools quickly on a cold morning.

Two smaller points. The optional pressure gauge stops the unit fitting in its case, and the leather cover adds bulk that Morning Coffee did not care for. It has been used in tents and on mountains, but bikepacking.com would leave it at home for an ultra-distance race.

Mostly metal and stout plastic, with a thin lid and a body that gets hot8.1/10

The Picopresso feels well made, and build is widely liked. The basket, portafilter and tamper are metal, and bikepacking.com reports that "it feels stout in hand, and even its plastic parts feel substantial"11. The tamper is good enough that Lance Hedrick sees no need to replace it. Morning Coffee, after years of travel with one, reports nothing damaged12.

The weak points are specific. ARAMSE singles out the lid as the cheapest-looking part, made of thinner plastic with some flex13, and warns that the metal portafilter threads meet plastic ones on the body, so a cross-thread could do damage. Screw it on with care.

The outside also gets hot, more so after repeated preheats or several shots in a row. Cabeen's Coffee Corner says "you almost have to put a towel on there"14. ProReview Hub wanted a thicker double wall for the same reason.

Cheap for unpressurized espresso at $129.90, dear for a travel gadget7.5/10

At $129.90, value is widely liked. The box holds a metal tamper, a dosing funnel, a distribution needle and a bottomless portafilter, which leaves only a grinder and a kettle to find. The Trek calls it "the most affordable way to make good espresso, full stop"15, and Lance Hedrick sees it as a low-cost entry into espresso with room to improve.

How the price looks depends on what you want from it. Bikepacking.com puts both readings in one sentence.

“at around $130, it’s either a remarkably affordable pocket espresso machine or an absurdly overpriced gizmo, depending on how deep you’ve gone down the coffee rabbit hole.”

The case against is that this is a travel tool and not an everyday machine. Coffee Chronicler finds it somewhat pricey on those terms16, and Daddy Got Coffee notes it is a fixed design that cannot grow into a better espresso maker. A precision basket is an extra cost, and for plain coffee on the trail a pour-over or an AeroPress does the job for less.

Our verdict

Buy the Picopresso if you want proper espresso in a bag-sized kit and already have, or will buy, a grinder that can go fine enough. Skip it if you want a quick, forgiving cup or mostly drink light roasts, which it struggles to extract. Start with a medium or dark roast, weigh every dose and preheat with boiling water. Give it a couple of weeks of practice before you judge the coffee.