Like everything else with barista coffee, manual tamping is an art form
I get it right sometimes, most times, then I forget a bit, or get distracted and itās off.
Was at a posh garden centre yesterday and had their coffee. We go quite often.
Big fast grinder, lever operated same pressure everytime tamper.
Big Ā£25000 espresso machines.
The coffee there is totally repeatable.
They calibrate the grind size and tamp pressure / machine often they said.
@thebiglebowski the other more basic option is to try a slightly more developed roast for your espresso. Light roast espressos arenāt everyoneās cup of tea, if youāll pardon the obvious.
I saw a James Hoffman vid the other day, canāt remember which one, Iāve watched a few! But he said that it didnāt matter how much beyond you tamp past the pressure required to compact the grinds together. My impression was that once that point is reached itās difficult to go further, no matter how hard you press. Iām pressing hard and seem to get the timing pretty consistent and the coffee is tasting alright I think. I quite like a bit of acidity!
Yes currently obsessed with this. Iām getting there, I think. I need to get a slimmer drip tray to be able to see the flow now Iāve got a bottomless portafilter. On and on the spending goes. My fucking scales are on the blink too!
Just got a VST precision basket. Early results are promising.
Bought some Illy ready ground espresso in a tin and it made an ok espresso so itās not the machine or technique.
Guess it has to be the way Iām grinding the beans, will have a look for a proper grinder next week.
Only weird thing is that the illy shot went through in 20 secs with a very rapid start and leaked/squirted quite a bit, guess itās a coarser grind than proper espresso.
My old ones were turning off mid-brew and once I got an espresso machine they also proved far too laggy to be accurate when trying to stop a shot. I was looking at the Acaia Luna, espresso specific jobbies but at something like 300 quid (!) they are really well out of reach. These arenāt cheap at Ā£80-ish but do everything the others do. They can be used for pour-over too (they will measure flow rate if you want them to) and have a mode for that and espresso.
So far Iām very impressed. They are metal, so feel nice and solid. They fit with a cup under the naked portafilter much better than my other ones and without having to remove the drip tray. In espresso mode, they sense when a cup is placed on top of them and then start weighing and timing once the first drip of coffee hits the cup. They really work! Iāve dialled in a new coffee this morning (Red Brick) much quicker than was possible before because they are that much more accurate.
so did go off and check the southern water hardness and pH for my postcode.
