— TESTING & REVEIW —
Travel & Press Coffee Makers
I’m ahead of the curve when it comes to the travel French press. My secret Vegas move for years (since I always drive) is to pack my French press and an electric kettle in my suitcase. Instead of having to stand in a ridiculous line in the morning to pay five bucks for a third-rate cup of coffee, I just brew up a pot in my room and face the day when I feel like it.
French press was my entry point into a better world of coffee. Part of the appeal is its simplicity: coffee and water are mixed in the beaker, then the filter presses the coffee grounds to the bottom, leaving a big bold mug of joe. That simplicity means that it can plug into all kinds of situations — as long as you can get boiling water, you’ve got top-quality coffee.
Now I’ve got French presses everywhere — a big one at home, a medium one at work, and a metal one with the camping gear. I especially like the French press when camping since you can get great coffee by putting a kettle on the fire. Nothing’s better than sitting by the fire sipping coffee as the sun climbs over the mountains.

Top Coffee Makers for Travel
PRODUCT | SIZE | RATING | |
---|---|---|---|
1. Stanley Classic | 16 Ounces | 4/5 | |
2. Kohipress | 16 Ounces | 4/5 | |
3. Espro | 12 Ounces | 2.5/5 | |
4. AmoVee | 15 Ounces | 2.5/5 | |
5. Presse by Bobble | 14 Ounces | 1.5/5 | |
6. AeroPress Go | 6 Ounces | Doin’ Its Own Thing | |
7. Bodum Travel Press | 13 Ounces | 1/5 |
French Press
If you’re reading this article, you probably already know this, but it never hurts to recap. A French press is a device for making coffee by infusion. Coarse-ground coffee and near-boiling/boiling water are combined in a beaker and allowed to infuse. A metal filter is pressed down into the beaker, trapping the coffee grounds at the bottom of the pot. The coffee produced should be poured off immediately, either into cups for drinking right away, or into an insulated thermos for drinking later.

One problem with French press coffee is that once the coffee is pressed, the grounds are still at the bottom of the beaker in contact with the water. The coffee continues to brew, albeit at a slower rate, gradually turning your perfect coffee into bitter overextracted coffee. The solution at home is easy: pour the coffee as soon as it’s brewed so it can’t sit on the grounds. You can’t pull that off when your pot is also your mug, so we were eager to see how much that would affect the flavor over time.
AeroPress
The AeroPress is not the same thing as a French press, but the ideas are similar enough that we included a portable AeroPress in this roundup. The basic idea is somewhat like an upside-down French press: finely-ground coffee and water infuse briefly in a beaker, then you press a solid piston down from the top, pushing the coffee down through a paper filter into your mug.


Procedure
We brewed a cup of coffee in each press using a ratio of 16:1 of coffee to water just off the boil. We first added double the weight of the coffee in water, waited 30 seconds, stirred, added the remaining water, steeped 4 minutes, and pressed. We took the temperature and tasted the coffee immediately after brewing. We left the lid closed for 30 minutes, then tasted and recorded the temperature again. After sampling the coffee, we cleaned each press and noted any problems.
Goals
Utility as a French Press
These coffee makers should make a good cup of coffee with about the same amount of effort as a standard French press. The coffee should taste good, with no more coffee solids in the finished coffee than usual. The pressing process should be simple and neat.

Utility as a Travel Mug
The travel mug should keep the coffee hot over a reasonable period of time while keeping the outside from getting uncomfortably hot. The lid should protect against spills and be easy to drink from. The shape should afford an easy grip in the car and easy storage in a cupholder.

Best for Camping – Stanley Classic Travel Mug French Press | 4/5



Best for Office Use – Kohipress |4/5


I later tried again with 12 ounces, and a little coffee still spilled out while pressing. 12 ounces is probably the right amount of coffee for this unit, but the gaskets fit so tightly that I think there’s always going to be coffee trapped in different spots that’s going to get squirted out. The tall and narrow design also makes it difficult to maneuver everything around. It’s tricky to pour the grounds from the grinder container in there neatly, and getting a spoon in for stirring is awkward. It also takes a fair amount of force to press, which is tricky since you don’t want to seal off the whole opening, but there’s not much room for your hand to go that doesn’t block it.The flavor on the coffee was reasonably good, and the secondary gasket performed admirably. Even at 2½ hours in the cup, the coffee never became overextracted. As a bonus test, after drinking all the coffee, I rinsed the cup out, then added water. I tasted it immediately and after a five minute rest and found no coffee flavor. That seal really does a good job. Temperature retention was also good, dropping from 189° to 155° in 30 minutes.

Espro — 2.5/5



AmoVee — 2.5/5



Presse by Bobble — 1.5/5



AeroPress Go— Doin’ Its Own Thing


Bodum Travel Press —1/5

Conclusion
Watch our complete testing and review of these portable coffee makers on YouTube.com

We’ve reviewed the top four small french press’ available. If you’re looking for a coffee device that’s easy to use, clean, and store, read on! If you’re looking to upgrade to a full size French press maker, we’ve got you covered as well.
Bodum Chambord Single Cup —Top Pick
One of the most popular french presses on the market is the Bodum Chambord. This is a classic french press available in many sizes, including 12 ounces. 12 ounce french presses are the smallest kind you can buy, and best for a single cup of coffee.

We tried both the 32 ounce and 12 ounce versions of the Bodum Chambord and were impressed by both. They feature a main cylinder made of heat-resistant borosilicate glass and a plastic handle that has proven to be sturdy. In addition, the glass cylinder comes apart from the handle to make dish washing the Bodum easy. Also, the plunger is dishwasher safe. This is a great feature since the plunger can be the most difficult piece to clean.
If you live alone or are the only coffee drinker in your house, the Bodum small french press is a great purchase. Weighing in at only 11.8 ounces and a height of six inches, it’s also perfect for a small space. If you’re like me and live in a cupboard on the east coast you can’t take up a lot of room with kitchen gadgets! Bodum claims on Amazon that it can make 3 cups of coffee, assuming each cup is 4 ounces. We drink a lot more coffee than that, and we think you will too.
Clever Chef Single Serve —Runner Up
This is one of my favorite mini French presses – mainly due to its size! Not only is the Clever Chef Single Serve French Press a small 12 ounce cylinder, its small handle makes it easy to fit anywhere.

We used this French press for around two weeks and found it easy to use and similar to other mini French presses available on the market. If you currently use a Keurig or similar machine, you will be impressed with the taste you can get using a single-serve French press like this one. The device is well constructed, though we have worried the glass is not as sturdy as other French presses on the market. One other interesting part of the design is that the plunger does not disassemble for cleaning. Though it does not affect the usability of the press, we do like to thoroughly clean the plunger on other presses.
One of the best uses we found for this French press was to make cold brew. Cold brew packs more caffeine than other coffee methods since it sits for 12-24 hours. Since this French press is on the smaller side, if you like your caffeine cold brew is a good method. Overall, we recommend this small press notwithstanding the durability concerns. If you’re clumsy (we are!) you may want a heavy-duty French press.
Magicafé —Stainless Steel Option
The only fully stainless steel option on this list, the Magicafe is a sturdy, compact press that performs well. For those concerned about drinking from anything plastic, stainless steel is proven to be BPA-free. Also, it is double-walled, which helps keep coffee warm. In our testing, we found we could keep a newly-brewed cup of coffee warm for nearly two hours! Last on the steel, it is safe for the dishwasher and rust resistant.
We thoroughly enjoyed using the Magicafe during our testing. It was great to test the product without fear of it breaking. We found it easy to keep coffee grounds out of your mug, and the plunger worked well in our full-scale use. The Magicafe earns major points for being easy to put in the dishwasher. Other presses require that you disassemble the various pieces before placing in the dishwasher.
Since the Magicafe is stainless steel, it does weigh more than most small French press devices out there. It comes in at 1.23 lbs, which is fine for kitchen use. Others have mentioned it may be too heavy to take camping (you can find our camping French press picks here). That said, if you’re in an RV or van, the Magicafe is still probably great. You’ll benefit from the fact that it’s nearly indestructible as well.