I’ve been meaning to post a review for this since I got it at Christmas. I’ll admit I wanted it for the novelty value, and I was skeptical as to its usefulness. From watching online videos, it seemed to me that it possibly took quite a long time to heat the water and build the pressure. But the Lavazza Espressgo, which is made in cooperation with Handpresso, is actually pretty good.

It’s a solid unit with a pleasant heft and a soft feel. It works with the Lavazza Modo Mio pod system and couldn’t be simpler. Using the supplied plastic Lavazza cup, you add 50 ml of filtered water to the reservoir. There’s a fill indicator, but if you use the measuring cup, you don’t need to worry about it. You shouldn’t overfill. You then position a pod, tighten on the lid (from which the coffee is dispensed) and plug the unit into your car’s 12v socket.

Push the On button, and it fires up and starts both building pressure and heating the water. The building pressure part is quite noisy, but it stops quite quickly and the water continues to heat. The unit beeps three times when the water is hot enough, at which point you unplug it from the 12v socket.

You position it over the cup and push the coffee button. It’s mechanical button so you have to give it a good push to open up the system. A good steaming cup of espresso with a good crema is then dispensed. When most of the water has dispensed, it froths and spits a bit, at which point you push the button back to close off the system.

The whole process takes no more than 3 minutes. I’ve been using it at the end of my morning commute, if I happen to arrive a bit early to work. Sometimes your option is, leave home at a reasonable hour, sit in a massive queue and arrive at work just about on time; or leave home ten minutes earlier and arrive about twenty minutes early. If I do that, I sit in the car and have a brew.

It’s great. A bit of a faff, but then coffee tends to be.