Coffee Anywhere! I Brew A Cup With The OutIn Portable Espresso Maker.
Tech That Matters.
Allora. I’m sitting outside at a café in the iconic Piazza Navona, one of my favorite destinations in Rome if only to while away an hour and let the city soak in. I order a double espresso with an anisette on the side, a clear liqueur used as a sweetener. Very old school.
The waiter, a tall, heavy set man, dutifully returns with my cup and a small glass of anisette placed alongside it.
“Who taught you to drink it like that?” he asks, in a tone that sounds like a half challenge.
“Some guys in New York.”
The waiter weighs my reply.
“Okay,” he says finally like it’s a verdict.
That was my Tom Hagen moment, Hagen being the Irish-German consigliere in The Godfather. Like Hagen, no one is going to size me up as Italian.
I’ll take a hit of espresso whenever I can get it but often times there isn’t a coffee shop nearby when the desire arises. But now the fix is in thanks to a small portable electric espresso machine called the OutIn Nano.
The OutIn Nano has the look and heft of a zoom camera lens and charges quickly with the same type of adaptor a newer cellphone uses. The espresso can be made with ground coffee or with coffee capsules. I chose the latter for their ease of use and the ones I used are recyclable. The capsule fits into an adaptor which in turns is inserted into a portafilter and then screwed tightly onto the main body.
The OutIn Nano requires purified water to fill the small water tank and take note of the guidance markings. A 50 ml fill works best and expect four to five cups before recharging. In practice, the OutIn Nano doesn’t really heat the espresso that well so I opted to use hot water. I like my espresso very hot but if you use cold water, then down it like a whiskey shot to do the trick. Take care to position the machine vertically so the coffee drips into the provided cup. The whole operation takes about three minutes. That’s great in a coffee “emergency.”
The OutIn Nano is a nice addition on any outdoor adventure and may be just the thing wherever a suitable coffee shop isn’t available (Note that Starbucks is closing numerous outlets in 2025 and given their ever-rising prices, the math make work out quickly if you’re a daily drinker.) Available colors include teal, forest green, grey, white and red. I think “some guys in New York” would be fine with the OutIn Nano. My espresso, a Peet’s ristretto with hints of spice and chocolate, was very enjoyable. And I now may have to add a small flask of anisette to my travel pack. ($150. OutIn.com)
One more thing. About “allora.” Italians will use the word even when speaking in English. It roughly translates as “so” and it’s a beautiful word that acts like a pause to think about what you’re going to say. It took me a while to catch on. For about a week, I thought half the women in Italy were named Allora.
