STARESSOPLUS SP300 Espresso Machine, Manual Portable Coffee Maker Compatible Ground Coffee with Pressurized Filter, Espresso Maker for Home Travel Camping Office, Non-Electric

UPDATE 5/2/23: I received communication about my user product from the seller in a timely manner. I learned there was an error somewhere along the line that they have now corrected so that it shouldn't be able to happen in the future. They also offered me a choice of gift to apologize for the situation.I am now the happy owner of a Staresso Tamper that fits perfectly in the basket of this machine and tamps beautifully. I am very impressed with their customer service and that they don't expect a change of review or rating. I have used the tamper and espresso maker daily for about a month now and am very pleased with the shots I get. Fresh grinds are very important, I bought some fresh at Starbucks and had them grind them in store on the espresso grind setting. It has been working very well and is tasty in my white chocolate mochas and peppermint mochas. Cleaning is very straightforward and similar to the smaller size machine which I had before and so I have been very happy about that. Overall from customer service to use of product to design of product I am very satisfied and happy that I made the purchase after all. Side note I live in a slightly off grid RV living and feel this is very easy to use whether it be camping or at home or anything in between I love that this portable of a machine has been made!!!I was really looking forward to having this because I already own and have loved my Staresso Basic espresso maker for a year or so now. I really need the larger machine to make my coffee every day without having to clean it out between shots to make myself enough( I like a 18-20oz mocha)and was thrilled to discover they make this size when I was looking at ordering a second basic... So I was really excited but upon opening it for the first time I saw coffee grounds and moisture inside of it. Such a disappointment after how much this product cost and how excited I was to have the larger machine. I have reached out to customer service to see about getting a new machine that has NOT been used and will update my review once I have (hopefully) sorted this out.

Although I've only used it twice so far, I've been very pleased with the Starpresso Mirage. It really does make proper espresso with a nice crema. The device is very solidly build and quite satisfying to use. Kudos to the engineers who designed it and built it.It attains high pressures by using a manual pump to pressurize the hot water chamber before the water is released to the coffee grounds in the filter basket. It can attain the high pressures promised because the pump has a small diameter piston in a small diameter cylinder. That means that the force needed to move the piston remains manageable even when the hot water chamber has risen to a quite high pressures. Because of small diameter, you have to apply many strokes to the pump to arrive at the high pressure. I need 30 to 40 for the full cycle. At 1-2 seconds a stroke, that does not take long.I have no means to measure the pressure, so I cannot say if the extraordinarily high pressure claimed of 15-20 bar is achieved. Electric machines operate at lower pressures, such as 9 bar. These are high pressures 1 bar is of the order of one atmosphere of pressure.The pressurized water is not released to the coffee grounds until a valve downstream of the water/coffee senses a high enough pressure. That means that the pressure is sustained not by resistance to the flow of hot water through the coffee bed but by the operation of the valve. The advantage is that the successful extraction of an espresso shot is relatively insensitive to the fineness of the grind. However an appropriately fine grind should still be used since a coarsely ground coffee may not be extracted well.Clean up is a little messy. The device overall is hot and the filter basket full of wet coffee grounds. The clean up involves more mess than merely knocking out the puck into a knockout box from a filter basket using its handle, as is the way with countertop espresso machines. There is no handle and my pucks have been a little soupy. It's nothing that bothers me too much. Be ready for errant grounds on the work surface.Overall, it is a great machine that does what it promises to do.

Opened up the box, took it apart, Washed everything. Put it back together, then noticed the strange porta-filter puck thing, thought nothing of it. Something new, cool. Continued and made an espresso, "Success" "Awesome Crema". Went to take it apart (mind you, Im in a Wheelchair, so everything is done with a slideboard (kinda like a tray) across my lap) Noticed the button on the filter/puck thingy, turned the machine upside down onto my slideboard, pressed the filter/puck maker button and Hot water from the puck ran back through the machine onto my slideboard and all over my legs into my crotch area. Then after i made the puck, i knocked it on the edge of the trash can, and lost the filter/puck maker in the bottom of the trash can. It was my Fault for not paying attention.If i woulda seen the regular open bottom regular porta filter/basket option and relized that the filter/puck maker was made the way it was, I would have opted for the regular open bottom porta filter/basket style on amazon prime day.I cant use the filter/puck maker porta filter, its to much to clean up after and i dont want to have to use the sink just to get rid of the puck (Reason for 4stars).I ended up grabbing a portafilter basket out of my 4 cup stove top espresso maker and it fits and works perfect. Eventually i will get the two Staresso Portafilter baskets. Until then, my trusty ol' stainless steel, vev vigano stove top 4 cup basket will be working over time in this "Awesome Machine".