It doesn’t fold but for Christmas I received the MyPressi TWIST Easy Elegant espresso maker, which claimed to change how and where I will enjoy my delicious espresso and espresso-based beverages, as it is “perfect for home and office”. Somehow they overlooked its most obvious application: for use in the Airstream.

Producing “perfect crema every time”—I suspect that’s the beige foam at the top of the coffee—the unit uses pressurized cartridges (the ones that make carbonated water from a seltzer bottle) in lieu of external power, and dispenses single or double shot extractions. A separate “frother” turns hot milk into a fake-steamed latte lather.

The Twist is advertised as easy to use—“put in the coffee, pour in hot water, and pull the trigger”—but it’s a hell of a production when one can just drive through the ampm for a 24-ounce High Voltage Java. Keeping the coffee hot is an issue; you have to practice, preheat, work mad fast and get the sequence of events exactly right or your drink will be tepid.

That said, if you’re confined to a campsite miles from a Starbucks (hard to imagine, in the northwest) the Twist is fun to use, easy to clean, looks bitchin’, makes rich coffee, and the loose parts travel neatly in a pouch.

I made peppermint espresso with frothed milk as a treat for the holidays.

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