Presso. Never heard of it?

Or are you like me, shopping for an espresso machine for months and then coming across this little shiny beast? Or are you putting in some research as to whether the Presso Espresso maker is worth spending your money on?

I first saw one of these in a copy of Western Living's "Condo" magazine. Not a big ad or article but a small photo. Right away, I was attracted to it's design. It's certain old school European flavour is exactly what good design is supposed to be. It's simple with few moving parts doing only what is necessary to be done. It's strong and durable looking. It's environmentally appealing as it uses no electricity. But can this cycloptic metal octopus make good espresso? Well, lets see.

I ordered mine within Canada from Presso.ca without any payment or ordering problems with the site. It arrived from Ontario to BC in a little over a week in good condition via regular parcel mail. Pretty exciting!

This photo shows the packaging and is yet unpacked. The ruler is a standard 12 inch ruler for scale.

The box itself is sturdy enough to ship without any crushing or damage.

This is how the machine and it's contents are packed.

Here are the contents. The Presso. Portafilter. A milk frother. A spoon / tamper. A manual. Two cup splitter attachment. Single espresso dose attachment.

Okay first impressions.

The spoon/tamper is not a thin plastic as I thought I would get. I was sure I would end up with a bending, picnic fork feel to it but it's a hard and very thick, strong plastic. It would take some strength and effort to break it's design ... The manual is minimal but this machine is pretty intuitive and there are good instructional info and videos out there anyway. Non-issue ... The milk frother probably works but the whole look and operation is way to phallic for me. I bought a battery operated frother from Ikea for $3.99 ... It looks like it should be screwed down but it is very stable ... The portafilter is heavy and strong and not as flimsy and cheap as I have seen on other machines far more expensive than this. A good description is solid. But wait a second! It's missing something. =(

The portafilter is missing a basket so it looks like my first use of the Presso will be with it's customer service. I sent off an email on late Friday night and had a response on Sunday. So a bad thing is actually a good thing for me to know there is good support from Presso, So a new portafilter is on it's way!

No lattes for me until Part II ... Later.