With the need for portable way to make espresso for hunting, fishing, camping and picnics, I was skeptical of the Bripe coffee pipe given the negative reviews and it isn’t exactly cheap, but there aren’t really any less expensive alternatives for convenient espresso while camping etc. After buying one and only one use, I can confidently say the negative reviews are user error by people that perhaps haven’t made espresso or French press coffee before or didn’t read the directions. If you grind your beans coarsely, this thing works perfectly. There are no grounds that get through the filter, as others have said. I haven’t tried it with a fine espresso grind, and I see no reason to do that, as it makes excellent brew with coarse grinds, which is what it should be after all as this is more of a French press than it is an espresso machine. And it only takes about a minute to heat the water to temperature. It takes about 3 minutes to cool, while you stir a couple times with the thermometer. Then you blow gently into the straw, this is critical and something I learned in Argentina with mate bombillas, before sipping. Best with Lavazza or Illy coffee beans, ground to the coarsest ground in your burr grinver, but Bripe recommend Death Wish Coffee, which I found to be just ok in terms of taste.
