Krups Café Voyager Electric Moka Brewer

 While out shopping something bright red laying in the bargain bin caught my eye. At first I thought I had found a mini red plastic percolator.  Bright colored Proctor Silex mini percolators are common finds in thrift stores.  What I rang up was this Krups Type 147 Household Coffee Maker (inscribed in the metal from the bottom of the machine – it says made in Germany too), but it turns out this item was not a mini percolator at all. This is a Krups Café Voyager electric travel Moka pot.

Information is very limited for this model – I found next to nothing on the web even after an exhaustive search. The compact device is rated at 300 watts and heats reasonably fast. A custom container holds four servings of grounds (or beans) that fits below the brewing chamber parts. The grounds basket has a built in gold tone filter and the middle piece has a spring loaded pressure release valve for safety.

I am not going to pretend I knew exactly how to operate this thing, but that did not stop me from trying. I placed two scoops of grounds on top of the gold tone filter, added water to where it looked like what should be enough, and plugged it in.  The brewing coffee comes out of the part on the side that doubles as the handle.  Myfirst cup was yummy and hot with some sediment in the bottom of the cup similar to what you will find brewing with a French press using beans  ground to a consistent particle size. The cup has a ton of body - drip can not get you here, and press pot isn't as clear with the flavor notes.

Thanks to some help I finally located instructions  for using this Krups Café Voyager  brewer. It looks like I did work it correctly – at least nothing blew up. I will play around with grind size some just for fun. I am missing the tote and the cup, but I can improvise. I saw what looks like a date code on the instructions too - 07/91, so this unit is almost twenty years old even though it looks almost new.   

Unfortunately this product is no longer available from Krups, but the concept lives on. Here on ROASTe the Bialetti Mukka Express Electric Cappuccino Aluminum 1 - Cup brewer ( a six cup model too) is available.  As much fun as my little Krups might be, this tight product from Bialetti looks like it takes the electric Moka pot design to a whole new level.

http://www.roaste.com/product/goodmans/Bialetti-Mukka-Express-Electric-C...