Portable espresso makers are seeing a rise in popularity these days, at least as far as the supply side goes. There have been a handful of new takes on how exactly one can make espresso in a portable and compact manner with varying levels of success. But I think we’ve now reached a critical mass and are perhaps taking this whole “mobile espresso” thing a bit too literally. This is thanks to Mokase, a brand new phone case that doubles as an espresso maker currently in the crowdfunding stage of development.
The Mokase works by inserting a “coffee wafer”—a coffee pod of sorts that is shaped like a saltine cracker—into the case and then using the associated app to brew the coffee, delivering 20-25mg of coffee beverage. The wafer appears to hold already brewed coffee, so the Mokase’s only job is to basically heat the brew, which the Kickstarter states that bring 15-20°C (59-68°F) liquid to 50-60°C (122-140)°F in five to eight seconds. That’s kind of impressive, right?
But I have two questions. First, what’s THAT gonna do to my battery? If I go heating up coffee crackers with my precious battery juice, will I be stuck at 1% ordering a Lyft, hoping and praying that Jimmy J. picks up my fare before the phone goes dead?
And second, the question we must all ask ourselves: “Do you WANT liquid and a heating element next to your liquid and heat averse electronics?” Aren’t you kind of unnecessarily playing with fire when there are coffee shops on almost every corner? Coffee shops that will, at least in theory, serve you non-waferated phone pee that looks like battery melt juice? I can’t keep my damn screen intact as it is, so I don’t think I need to be adding to the daily gauntlet of not ruining my social lifeline.
But if you like living on the edge, you can get your own for €49 (around $54), which is a pretty steep discount from the €80 (around $87) suggested retail price. The Mokase will be available for Apple iPhone versions 6 through 7Plus and Samsung Edge versions S6 through S8. With 41 days left in the campaign, they have raised a little over $4,000 of the $82,000 goal, so if you want this thing you better really want it and convince about 1,000 of your friends that they all really want it.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*all media via Mokase
