The machine

Gilka One

A pneumatic espresso machine with no pump, no battery and no cable. This page describes the architecture we are validating — every number that depends on the final hardware is marked as unpublished rather than guessed.

Product photography pendingWe will publish photographs of the actual unit, not renders, once validation is complete.

In validation

Portable espresso without a power source

Gilka One replaces the pump with regulated gas. A food-grade CO₂ cartridge supplies pressure; a regulator holds the brewing setpoint; a fixed-volume chamber delivers a repeatable water dose to a sealed puck path.

There is no motor, no battery and no cable. Water is heated externally — a kettle, a stove or a flask — so the machine's job is pressure, not heat, and its mass stays low enough to carry.

Regulated gas pressureFlat setpoint for the full shot, instead of a piston that decays as you tire.
Fixed chamber volumeFixed ratio by design: fewer variables to manage in the field.
No electrical requirementNothing to charge, nothing to fail in the cold.
Serviceable consumablesSeals and baskets sold individually, priced openly.

Technical specifications

Every row below states its status. A specification we have not measured is not a specification.

Specification	Value	Status
Brew pressure setpoint	—	Publishes at launch (measured)
Setpoint tolerance under flow	—	Publishes at launch (measured)
Gas	Food-grade CO₂, 8 g cartridge	Confirmed
Cartridge interface	Standard threaded, hand-tight	Confirmed
Chamber water volume	—	Publishes at launch (measured)
Dose / basket	16–18 g double	Design target
Mass (bare / packed)	—	Publishes at launch (measured)
Dimensions	—	Publishes at launch
Materials in water path	—	Publishes at launch
Power required	None	Confirmed
Warranty	—	Target: 24 months mechanical
Price	—	Publishes at launch

How it works

Load — 16–18 g of espresso-grind coffee, distributed level, tamped flat.
Seal — hot water fills the fixed-volume chamber above the puck.
Pressurise — the cartridge is engaged and the regulator holds brewing pressure.
Extract — water passes through the puck at a flat setpoint to a 1:2 ratio.
Release — residual pressure vents through the relief valve before the chamber opens.

The full engineering detail, including the thermal and gas-budget arithmetic, is in how a pneumatic espresso machine works.

Brewing process

The machine fixes pressure. Everything else is technique, and the technique is documented rather than implied:

Dial in a new coffee — the ten-minute, three-shot routine to run before you travel.
Camping procedure — the field sequence with the timing that matters.
Portable espresso guides — the six variables you still control.

Shipping, warranty and reviews

Shipping — regions and rates publish with the price sheet. Gas cartridges are restricted in some jurisdictions and may not ship with the machine there.
Warranty — target is 24 months on mechanical parts. Not final, therefore not promised here.
Reviews — none are shown, because none exist. Verified-purchase reviews will appear here after the first units ship, unedited and including the bad ones.

If a specification, a review or a delivery date on this page is unpublished, that is deliberate: it is unpublished everywhere else too, and we would rather say so than fill the gap with a number that reads well.

Questions

Frequently asked

What is actually final on this page?

The architecture: gas pressure instead of a pump, a fixed-volume chamber, a sealed puck path, and no electrical requirement. Mass, dimensions, brew setpoint tolerance, chamber volume and price are all still in validation and are marked as unpublished.

Why publish a product page with unpublished specifications?

Because the alternative is inventing numbers. Anyone can read a spec sheet; almost nobody can tell which figures were measured and which were written by a copywriter. When the sheet is ready it will be published here in full, with measured values labelled as measured.

Will Gilka One work with any coffee?

It requires espresso-grind coffee, freshly ground, dosed 16–18 g into the double basket. It does not require proprietary pods or a specific roaster. Your grinder will matter more to the cup than the machine does.

Is there a warranty?

The target is two years on mechanical parts, with a 30-day return window. Neither is final, so neither is published as a commitment. Both appear here with the price sheet, before any pre-order opens.

When will it ship?

No date is published because no date is confirmed. The launch list receives the date at the same moment it is set — we are not going to announce a quarter and quietly move it twice.

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