all right so ever since I really started
getting into coffee makers I really
really wanted a portable espresso
machine that you could kind of take with
you but that also heats up the water
because one of the biggest issues with
most travel espresso machines is that
you have to boil your water which means
that it's not really a travel coffee
maker because you had to find somewhere
to heat up that water well Alon gave me
this espresso machine and it promises to
do just that which fixes a lot of things
so in this video I'm going to tell you
everything that I know about it I'm
going tell you what it is I'm going to
show you how to use it but also what I
like about it what I don't like about it
and exactly who it's for after a couple
months of testing this thing so let's
get right into it all right so this is
the Alton Nano espresso machine now
there are a couple different things we
should talk about so up top is where you
basically put in your water you can see
there's different fill lines there uh 70
ml is kind of right below that MAX Line
I have put it in a little bit higher
than that up to that MAX Line um and
made some good shots you can go down to
30 ml and so this is where you put it in
you can see there's a little filter
right there and it brings the water down
in to heat it in this chamber here down
below here you have a handy dandy little
cup and it also makes it so that water
and stuff doesn't go away and then right
here you can unscrew this I personally
use the Porta filter for using your own
ground coffee but it does come with
another little canister to use like
espresso style pods and then right here
you can see basically that's kind of
your uh like little puncture thing when
it pressurizes obviously this isn't
going to puncture it's more for like the
Espresso capsules and of course on the
inside this is where you put your coffee
here in a minute I'm actually going to
make an espresso shot and show you guys
exactly how to use all this but these
are all of your different components
basically you just fill it
up screw it on
and then you can basically just you know
make your espresso right into there now
as for specifications if you want it to
heat your own water it makes about five
espresso shots on a single charge
however if you heat up your coffee
without it without the actual heating
elements or anything like that you can
make up to 200 shots and I have to say
it holds up to around there I'm I've
been pretty impressed with that but
we'll talk about that a little bit later
now I like to keep my sticker on here uh
basically you press this button twice to
heat and extract so that's where it
Heats your own water and then if you
double press you can extract directly so
that's for people like me that like to
you know heat up the water ahead of time
and then press wants to stop so if you
want it to stop for some reason it was
like a little emergency op button you
just press it once while it is brewing
and it'll stop it and as for sizing you
can see it isn't huge but it definitely
isn't small by any means it's h it's
something you can throw into your p pack
and with that said let's go ahead and
brew a shot now I'm going to brew a shot
just using heated up water it takes
about 3 minutes to boil it and it does
work but I I'm just going to go ahead
and put boiling water in there so you
guys can get an idea of how it all works
so here is some kind of medium fine
coarse ground coffee so let's go ahead
and pull everything apart again and I'll
show you how to fill that now of course
I'm probably going to make a mess on my
desk here but I guess that's okay it's
for science all right so this is a scoop
specifically from outin that came with
it and it's the right size basically to
put all of this in so you're going to
take some coffee you're going to take it
in
there and then Tamp it down a little
bit and then you want to make sure that
you clean off this Edge as you can see I
have it kind of up there at the top it
is a little messy and I found that
honestly that has been pretty okay so we
just put that little cap
right on there see now it's its own
little pod we put it up here and
then just like that now in this process
I actually like to put this kind of
little cut back on it just so I don't
have to worry about it and then what we
have here is some boiled water I just
boiled this it should and then I kind of
you know preet it for heat and we're
going to go ahead and pour it up to the
slide where I've never never done this
on camera so this is kind of weird and
as you can see I put it up to about that
70 ml line and so this is boiled water
and again I'm not doing this where it
Heats its own water it takes about 200
seconds or so to do that uh which is a
little while but if you think about all
the other things you have to do in the
meantime it can kind of boil while
you're working on other stuff all right
and now I have here a clear glass so I
am going to do that I'm going to remind
myself exactly how many times I need to
press so this is the double press to
extract directly so I'm gonna go that
and you can
hear I just realized it's probably cuz I
have it up
directly so you can see it is extracting
this is probably a terrible ankle for
you guys but you'll get the idea when
it's
done and there it is it is
done and as you can see the shot it does
have the crma on top and uh we're going
to get into to how forgiving it is uh
but you can see it made a really good
shot man I really should not have done
this as a top angle but I don't have any
other way to shoot this but that is a
good shot and let's go ahead and talk
about the things that I do like and
don't like about this coffee maker all
right so now that we know what the
espresso machine is and how to use it
let's talk about the things that I like
about it and then we'll jump into the
things that I don't like about it but
stay tuned for that of course the first
thing that I really like about this
espresso machine comes down to the fact
that it's fully battery operated
rechargeable battery so let's get into
that so most travel coffee makers or
espresso makers like this are actually
manually operated there's a little pump
on the side that you kind of pump with
your finger maybe on the back here uh
and that builds up the pressure manually
however this being battery operated it
builds up the pressure for you not only
Heats it up for you but builds up the
pressure for you uh and I really like
that because not every coffee maker is
that way in the travel side of things
and I really like that next thing is
it's still on the battery operated side
of things is honestly its battery life
has been pretty impressive now the
battery life on this is pretty
impressive now it's not impressive say
if you have it heated up for you every
single time it only makes about five
shots if that is something that sounds
like you however if you boil the water
ahead of time say you use this in your
own kitchen instead of a standard kind
of countertop espresso machine it can
make up to 200 espresso shots just by
you know kind of causing the pressure
not doing the heating element portion of
it and that is impressive so this can
actually replace a countertop espresso
machine I actually have an espresso
machine I'm thinking about getting rid
of because I prefer to use this right
here so you can throw it into the
cabinet it doesn't sit on your
countertop and that's really nice number
three thing that I really like it's
pretty forgiving when it comes to like
coffee grind size now this is the coffee
that I primarily use this is actually
going through a Mr Coffee coffee grinder
uh now it's a bur grinder of course but
it's not super nice so the you know the
grinds are not super consistent or
anything like that and this is a medium
kind of fine coffee normally you want a
super fine coffee for espresso however I
use this for my arrow press as well
which is also my other coffee maker that
I primarily use and I don't really want
to change up the coffee grinds depending
on the coffee maker I use so I just use
this and it still makes a really really
good shot now the fourth thing that I
really like about it is that you can use
your own coffee grind now of course this
little unit comes with both the ability
to use espresso pods or you can use your
own coffee grinds I really really do
like that because it comes with both
options in the box and I appreciate that
cuz I personally prefer going cheaper
and using my own coffee grinds instead
of using an espresso pod which is
considerably more expensive but I like
that it comes with both options for
whatever people want to use and then the
last thing is honestly it's build
quality as you can see I mean this is
plastic uh but it is a really hard
plastic it keeps really clean all the
components even the electronics in it
right there are super high-end uh and I
have no complaints this is something I
can drop and I don't have to worry about
the metal in there feels really really
nice all the components feel really
Stout um and I have no complaints on
build quality I am not worried about
this thing breaking or getting damaged
if I throw it in my backpack or any of
that kind of stuff it is super
impressive I have no complaints when it
comes to build quality all right so we
talked about all the things that I do
like but of course it's important to
know what I didn't like about this
portable espresso machine so let's get
into that now now the first thing that I
really really wish it had is two Porta
filters why is that let's get into it
now when you take this off and unscrew
it you can see your little Porta filter
in there I wish there were two of these
why is that because Normal espresso
drinks require two shots and this makes
one shot at a time as you can see it
doesn't have a massive capacity in there
and the Bummer with that is you have to
then take all of this apart after your
first shot you have to take it all apart
you have to clean it all out and then
you have to put new coffee in there Tamp
it down put it all together it's not
that bad when you're doing one shot but
if you're wanting to make a latte with a
double shot it's a whole process to be
able to do that I wish you could set it
all up ahead of time uh so that you can
make two shots pretty quickly instead of
being like 20 seconds it's going to take
a couple minutes to make sure that you
are getting your shots set up correctly
so I wish it came with two Porta filters
when it comes to the pre-round coffee
and then the only other thing that I
didn't super like about it is the
cleanup process I think it's important
to have coffee makers that are easy to
clean up so let's talk more about that
now this is an issue with most espresso
machines especially in the travel space
is there's just a lot of different
components and when you come through
here and you take this all apart and
then there's coffee on the inside right
there this actually doesn't even like
kick out into your garbage if you just
like shake it or like Tamp it or
anything like that and so it's kind of
annoying to do cleanup most of the time
you end up just washing most of it down
the sink and down the
drain and so I wish it was a little bit
easier to clean up I don't know how they
would do that with this machine but it's
something I wish was the case is just
easier cleanup but it's something you
just kind of live with with portable
coffee machines and who is this for if
you're somebody that wants to make a spr
esess so on the go I have yet to find a
better option than this I have tried
some competitors and I have to say just
being able to heat up your own water
whether you need to do it or not is
really nice because then you can just
take some ground coffee with you
wherever you go and you can make coffee
wherever you need you don't have to find
a hot plate you don't have to find a
stove it really really is impressive but
of course if you're worried about a
messy cleanup experience and you really
need that double shot this may not be a
great solution for you it is also a
little bit heavier than I would prefer
it's something that is going to weigh
down your backpack if it's something
like you're taking hiking if you're
looking for a good portable espresso
machine I have yet to find a better
option so if you found this review in
any way helpful make sure to subscribe
or like this video I do also have a paid
link down in the description and the top
comment that I appreciate you guys using
I do also have a discount code that you
can find below I'll see you guys next
time h