Four years ago, I started wondering why there is no real portable espresso machine that just works like a portafilter machine, but battery-powered and made to travel around with. I then spent the last years learning manufacturing and product design, as my technical education only scratched the surface of these topics.
My main "goals"
- 58mm Portafilter
- Battery-powered
- Portable but capable enough to be my main machine at home too
- makes espresso single & double
- works without opening app/debug
- thermal stability
- Steam milk (validating at the moment)
- as quiet as possible
Current State
During the last year I started building what can be described as an EVT (Engineering Validation Testing) prototype that works and has been with me on a film set. (I'm a cinematographer traveling and working in remote areas, hence the "need" for this kind of machine) Other products I tried always felt too gimmicky for me.
I design and manufacture all parts except the pump and valves in-house at the moment and want to build up manufacturing capacity slowly, with demand. Most of the parts are made in Europe, and I want to keep it that way and onshore everything I can.
I built what you can see in the pictures:
- Current state of the Prototype – custom controller and simple interface
- "the first heat" Build – with a simple PID and manual control
- the "insides" – Building the electronics step by step
- manufacturing the Boiler from a Stainless Steel cylinder
- Boiler "OP1 Top" milled
- saturated group also milled from Stainless Steel
- Prototype "KeksPresso"
Features as of now:
- runs on 24V (professional camera batteries and power Tools)
- settable power consumption for battery or mains power (200-500w)
- gear pump and pressure sensor for stable pressure and possible pressure profiling
- optimized heating (cannot go into more detail as of now)
- self-priming hydraulic system
- dry run protection
- "Winter Mode" – so nothing freezes when on standby
- Deep Settings and config via WiFi
What I still want to add:
- Modularity (only the "head" needed to make coffee & steam)
- pretty on-device interface
- Steam mode
- premium design (think a mix of Leica, Rimowa and MacBook)
My questions are:
- Who else wants this machine to exist?
- What do you think is missing?
- Is the modular approach worth developing? One machine for backpack to countertop?
- Is 58mm "standard" what everybody wants? ( I do ;)) (Can be adapted to ESE at least for one "convenience" option)
Short note on price: Still validating manufacturing scale and final feature set. I would consider it to be in the "premium" segment. I will share real numbers as soon as I can.
I want to launch on Kickstarter in the fall and wanted to include as many of you as I can so this is really a machine many people would want 🙂
If you want, you can check out my Instagram, where I document the build and sign up for the early bird list:
https://www.instagram.com/_voltacoffee
I'm looking forward to what the community has to say and appreciate any and all feedback!
Have a nice day!
Ben
by pentalobe
24 Comments
Usually travel with my moka pot, fits easily. Not a bad idea a portable espresso machine if we can fit it. Thanks for sharing.
Wish you luck.
I’d be curious to know how it stacks up to something like a bambino from a portability standpoint. Like what truly makes it a better travel machine? I understand the ability to run it off batteries is a great feature, but with portable powerbanks becoming more powerful it seems far easier to just get a cheap machine like that.
Still looks quite big for “portable”. With that size I am not taking this camping. If I take this travelling I am only taking it to places where power is available so no need for batteries.
How many shots do you get on one battery charge? What’s the weight?
Why not a OutIn Nano?
Biscuits
It’s an interesting concept and I can see a niche market for it. However, I think that having to pack a portafilter (58mm, no less!) in addition to everything else might be inconvenient but I guess it depends on the type of travel you’re doing
Competition with the smaller portable espresso makers like the ones from Wacaco would be the main concern
I travel with a cafelat robot. Everything I need with it in a pelican style case. There isn’t really anything to break, and all I need is hot water. All in, weight is about 20lbs.
How is the durability on this machine for travel? What is the projected weight? What type of packaging for travel?
I’ll take the Butterkek version. Only suggestion I have is maybe offer it in Biscoff as well.
[Rocket Porta Via](https://rocket-espresso.com/products/domestic-models/porta-via), is a portable machine. With E61 group head.
It’s far too large to be actually portable. Barely skinnier than my Delonghi and it looks taller even without the handle.
Espresso machine kickstarters nearly always fail, you’re not prepared for the costs involved to make it a profitable venture, and you will not get safety certification. There’s just zero chance, i’m sorry.
James Hoffman has a great video on why it’s simply not attainable.
https://youtu.be/GKA2COJRt6M?si=SgrFrf5UpcukSewa
Off-grid living seems like the main use case to me, maybe the ‘glamping’ crowd too.
This is a cool endeavor! Why not build a lever machine? With some kind of folding compact lever mechanism.
– Would be basically silent. Rotary pumps are stupidly loud.
– No electricity required for pump (save battery).
I think giving up on the milk steaming would make this a lot easier too. Just need power to heat the water for brewing at that point. But I understand if that’s a hard requirement.
Final thought: it’s often thought that more metal in an espresso machine is good for thermal stability, but it also means much more power is required to get it to and maintain that temperature.
Good luck!
First off – truly impressive!
I do a fair amount of car camping. ( setting up at established camp sites). This would be ideal except that my new truck has a 110v outlet in the bed, which I plan on using my old machine on. As ambitious as this is, it certainly would be a niche market.
Keep us posted on your progress.
This would likely be quite amazing for a boat. Especially the battery part, where you could have it pull a couple of shot and if it is plugged in, trickle charge back in to prevent voltage drops.
I would suggest streamlining the machine into a different shape. Maybe like an old school stanley thermos, pour water in top, working parts in middle to bottom shortened portafilter handle and maybe a cup that attaches to the bottom. If theres room include the battery or you could have a small wired adapter that can connect to various tool battery attachments or an outlet
Cool project, but it’s not a viable product imo. At this size, why not just figure out a battery solution for a bambino, or buy a travel rocket, or get a flair, or inout/picopresso, aeropress or mokapot etc.
I thought pro camera batteries were 14v type. I’m familiar with v mount and gold mount. What do you use?
Seems like major overkill when you can get a Lever machine or something like a Wacaco.
I can see a niche market for something like this but I am guessing you made this for yourself as a project and aren’t actually thinking of producing these for resale.
Love that machine! Very cute and unique 🥰
Looks rockin, dawg. Posts like this remind me Reddit isn’t dead yet. Godspeed
https://preview.redd.it/qg4vsmp4wzrg1.jpeg?width=3569&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a77883a8d1cc8e0a895583f435d0da822dd62c0
Considering my pico kit is this large and is 2.5kgs total it’s a tough decision to switch. Hot water is plentiful and abundant everywhere so it doesn’t make sense to carry more. Only suggestion I would make is to reduce it to 51 as opposed to 58 to save on size/space since there is so much kit for the 51 market.
Hey, I think it’s so damn cool that you had an idea and have taken it this far! Congratulations!
Question: Is the water tank removable? For this to be portable, I’d need to empty the water and the best way to do that is to be able to take the tank off.
So basically you want to build the espresso version of Makita’s portable coffee maker.
I plan on putting my gaggia in a packout and using that as a portable machine with a power bank. That won’t be much bigger than this tbh, plus I can keep all my coffee, tamper, grinder, and other accessories in it.
To create a portable machine, I don’t think it needs a handle, it needs a portable case to hold the machine and everything you will need with it.