Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jesse -D-> on June 4, 2009 at 1:36pm

worms coming out of the can now.

Jared Rutledge said:

i think the general idea behind a standard tamping pressure is to ensure that all your baristi are regulating their doses. in other words, if you keep your espresso bean consistent, and know your 18g dose sits right at the ridge line on a portafilter basket with your standard 30lb tamp, then you will likely pull more consistent shots.

of course (as has been determined) tamp pressure between 10lb-80lb isn't a huge determiner of the espresso's taste. i've just always viewed it as a tool to keep everything consistent.

as a side note, i would imagine most people are tapping the portafilter during dosing to ensure the espresso settles? i usually do it on the top of the dosing chamber itself but i saw Gwilym Davies do it on the dosing fork at the WBC this year. that's one major factor i learned in sydney that helped my espresso go from shaky to good.

Tamp could be directly related to how quickly the grinds absorb H20. A puck that isn't tamped will likely let the initial burst of water (pre-infusion or not) reach the dry grounds on the bottom of your puck more quickly than if you had tamped 100lbs. But because the grinds are absorbing the coffee, you don't see a shot start any earlier. I don't know, just a theory.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brady on June 4, 2009 at 7:18pm

Jared Rutledge said:

as a side note, i would imagine most people are tapping the portafilter during dosing to ensure the espresso settles? i usually do it on the top of the dosing chamber itself but i saw Gwilym Davies do it on the dosing fork at the WBC this year. that's one major factor i learned in sydney that helped my espresso go from shaky to good.

The benefit of settling in the forks (if you still got 'em) is that you're limited to how far you can move the PF, so your "thump" is more consistent. Picked up that tip from a very similar discussion here about a year ago...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by James Perini on November 8, 2011 at 2:56am

I have found that a uneven or non-level tamp makes much more of a difference to shot timing than the the weight of the tamp. Perhaps when you try to tamp as hard as you can you don't have as much control and as a result your tamp is uneven. Possibly causing channeling. Not sure though, not an expert by any means.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Matthew on November 8, 2011 at 7:33am

I would love to see a Vimeo video on the actual experiment.

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page