If only they knew that there are actually a number of key areas to improve, which can be improved with much less effort & investment than buying a more expensive espresso machine. If you weren't aware, tamping is what you need to do with the coffee in the basket before inserting it into your espresso machine. As the water is released into the filter, it will find the path of least resistance, because that’s what water does. Alternative Brewing, and its agents/delivery partners associated with the delivery of your parcel, do not accept responsibility for any loss or damage that may result from you providing Authority to Leave for your delivery. You agree to release Alternative Brewing from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, losses, costs and expenses, including financial and other consequential losses, made, suffered or incurred by you or any other person or entity as a result of your election to choose Authority to Leave for your delivery. Tamper Size Standards A 58mm tamper is often used with commercial and high-end espresso machines (espresso coffee makers), while smaller size options include 57 mm, 53mm, and 49mm tampers. 2. Are calibrated coffee tampers good?

If you're currently using pre-ground coffee, freshly grinding your own coffee beans will be a step in the right direction.

Recent Posts

If you want to use a leveler, no problem – but I'd use one as well as a WDT tool, not instead of one, as they do a different job. When lower-pressure brewing is involved, compacting grounds isn't necessary because of the longer brewing, or steeping, process. Extraction with espresso occurs via pressure, and the only way to achieve proper extraction is with tamping, employing at least 20-30 pounds of pressure. This is completely down to the individual. I personally prefer handled tampers to flat tampers, and I prefer heavier weight bases with wooden handles. I'm not a big fan of the all-metal tampers, as I just find wood is a bit nicer to hold than metal, but each to their own. Yes, I'm sad, we've already ascertained that – but there's quite a big difference between this tamper and most others, which is that the rosewood handle flares out. The Coffeeworks began as a project involving coffee bloggers (coffee blog readers – so that now includes you), in which I ran a series of polls to find out what readers were looking for.

The Force Tamper might be overkill for most home baristas due to its overwhelming price tag. But it might be worth it if you’re a pro or just really into this hobby. I'm only including a few WDT tools here, as there are so many hitting the market at the moment, and many of them are very similar. Watch this space, as I'll create a separate review post for WDT tools in the future and link to it from here. Best all-round WDT tool Compatible with La Pavoni Europiccola and Professional Millenium models (coffee machines manufactured after the year 2000 – 60 mm diameter group head and 51mm baskets). Some baskets are slightly tapered or have a ridge in them, which means that you need a slightly smaller tamper, which is why for example the tampers for Sage portafilters are usually 53mm and not 54mm. Anyway, it's the standard wooden handle and stainless steel base configuration, and it's 50mm to fit the DeLonghi (and others) portafilters.Maybe Motta are concerned that if they call it a “Ball Tamper” rather than a “Bubble Tamper”, some members of the public will take this literally, misunderstanding what it is you're supposed to be squishing with this thing, which is, of course, ground coffee beans. There are also leveler tools, which I believe started out with the OCD leveler, and now there are lots of similar devices to this, but I think it's important to point out that these kinds of tools don't quite do the same as WDT. This is another great deal from Shop Coffee, as this is a really well known brand, who produce some decent stuff, and this tamper is cheaper than some of the other non-branded (or branded with unknown brand names) tampers. Our calibrated tamper with 2 interacting constant force springs and a stop keeps pressed powder at the same level every time. These are height adjustable which simply means that you can remove the silver ring to make the handle slightly shorter. It weighs 354g, and it seems like quite a lot of tamper for the money.