Smooth operator – Nespresso winning coffee wars

How much do you love coffee? How long can you go without needing
another hit of espresso? If the answer isn’t very long at all and you’re
on the road a lot then the Lavazza Modo Mio Espressgo might just be the ticket: it’s an espresso coffee machine designed specifically for the car.

Given how quickly all those service station stops can add up, the
Espressgo’s £120 cover price and the fact it uses those proper Lavazza
capsules sounds appealing. But do you really need it? We went for a
drive to find out.

In the car

Designed to fit in a standard cup holder – the kind normally found by the gear stick in your car – the tall and cylindrical Espressgo houses a powerful pressurised coffee machine inside.

The design, although fairly cluttered to look at, is incredibly
simple. The power cable that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter
conveniently wraps itself around the bottom half of the shaft, while the
top part of this coffee-lover’s gadget houses a power button, pouring
switch, pressure gauge and the cap to remove to fill the device with
water and load it with coffee.

In keeping with most car interiors, the Espressgo is matte black with a small white coffee cup that sits on the top of device. Simple, but effective.

Choosing coffee

Unscrew the cap and you reveal a water reservoir enough for a Lungo
cup of coffee (around double that of a normal espresso, which is fitting
for the cup size) and a shelf to place a standard Lavazza Modo Mio coffee capsule.

Lavazza offers 10 different kinds of capsules, providing plenty of
choice when it comes to your favourite brew. Having it as a capsule
saves you spilling freshly ground coffee all over your car in a random
lay-by on the A34.

However, the capsules are a lot more expensive than instant coffee,
at around £3.89 for 16. That makes it approximately 24p per cup on the
go, but that’s a far cry better than the £2.40 you’ll pay in the service
station.

It also means that if you have a Modo Mio coffee machine in your house already, you can use the same capsules. Winner.

Making coffee

Making the coffee is very easy and takes about three minutes from
inception to completion. Load the machine with water – which is
something to think about, as you’ll need to carry a bottle around –
place the capsule in the right spot, plug the Espressgo into your car
and wait.

The pressure builds until the machine beeps three times which is your
cue to unplug it and then turn it upside down. So you don’t
accidentally cover yourself in coffee, the machine is designed to not
release the hot coffee until you’ve completely turned the machine upside
down, and unless you know this (we didn’t even after skimming the
instructions) you’ll be certain that you’ve broken it.

Once you do work it out the coffee pours out at a gentle pace and you
are good to enjoy what the machine has made. Just remember to turn the
machine upside down.

Now taste. Ah yes, full marks here, as the Espressgo makes a lovely
cup of coffee with a good crema and strong taste. It’s much like what
you’d get if you had made it from one of the company’s kitchen worktop
coffee machines.

The pressure builds until the machine beeps three times which is your
cue to unplug it and then turn it upside down. So you don’t
accidentally cover yourself in coffee, the machine is designed to not
release the hot coffee until you’ve completely turned the machine upside
down, and unless you know this (we didn’t even after skimming the
instructions) you’ll be certain that you’ve broken it.

Once you do work it out the coffee pours out at a gentle pace and you
are good to enjoy what the machine has made. Just remember to turn the
machine upside down.

Now taste. Ah yes, full marks here, as the Espressgo makes a lovely
cup of coffee with a good crema and strong taste. It’s much like what
you’d get if you had made it from one of the company’s kitchen worktop
coffee machines.