I know some are for single shots, double and even triples.

But are they compatible from one company to the next?

Could I put a La Cimbali basket in a Nuova Simonelli?

Are all Nuova Simonelli baskets compatible with all Simonelli machines/Filterholder?

The actual filter area (punctured holes on the bottom) changes from one model to the next.

More holes = less pressure build-up
Less holes = more pressure build-up

Does it affect the quality/taste of the coffee?

I just replaced my E61 Faema Style 14 gram basket with an equivalent and here are my observations.

-Original basket was shinier/chrome looking and matched the group handle better. New basket has a brushed aluminum feel.
- New basket with a spring retaining lip moves back & forth inside the group handle when wiping it down. I had to adjust the retaining spring a bit.
- OEM basket tapers in a bit more at the bottom, appears to hold a bit less coffee than the replacement.
-OEM basket handle locks at 6 oclock, new basket locks at 7 oclock which means the top curved ridge could be slightly taller.
-New basket espresso shots pour slower, need to back off 1 click on the grinder, appear to be more basket holes.
- New basket holes seem to be the same pattern of holes but they appear a bit smaller.
-Taste differences ? Too early to say since i also opened a new bag of coffee that is still degassing a bit.

WS

guitaboyled wrote:Does it affect the quality/taste of the coffee?

Next week in Berkeley, California, La Marzocco will be hosting an educational coffee event they call "Out of the Box."

One of the workshops is called "LM Filter Basket Project: R&D, new developments, and the future of espresso filter baskets." Vince Fedele of ExtractMoJo fame will be presenting work he's done on this issue. Some of your questions will hopefully be answered.

There is also new product coming out of Europe with smaller and better-finished holes: http://www.espressoresource.com.

I have one and can't say I detect any improvement over the Faema basket I normally use. If anything, it is more difficult for me to grind for and dose properly. Others may have better success.

I have single version. Every so often swapped w stock. Over several months and coffees, no detectable difference.

I have double. Switching with LMD over last couple of month and there is no difference that we can taste.

Could someone explain the LM style and the Synesso style

Do they fit the Oscar?

guitaboyled wrote:I know some are for single shots, double and even triples.

But are they compatible from one company to the next?

Some basic information:

Baskets for 58mm commercial groups will all work on any such group. A Cimbali basket will work on an LM machine. Some machines like La Spaziale use a non-standard group size and use baskets that cannot be interchanged.

Even when different baskets fit in the same group, they can be different. For single baskets, LM baskets hold more than Cimbali and Faema baskets, which hold more than NS baskets. The Rancilio single basket is either impossible or very difficult to use.

In double baskets, the LM, Cimbali and Faema (aka E61) baskets are deeper and more cylindrical than the NS and Rancilio doubles, and therefore hold a few grams of coffee more.

The number of holes punched into the bottom varies by basket. Singles have about half the holes of doubles, so they can get the produce half the volume in the same time. There are also smaller differences in hole number for different brands.

The other posters are referring to an ongoing argument about quality control, or the lack of it, for baskets. The process by which holes are punched in baskets is slapdash, so that two baskets of the same kind can have very different overall areas. However, the discussion on this has been compromised (to say the least), since it mostly ignores that quality control is the process engineering desiderata of making an existing design perform more consistently across all its produced units, rather than the design engineering desiderata of having a new design perform better than an old one.

I figure I'll try La Marzocco Double Portafilter Basket - L116/A (MZ_107)

Are you guys 100% sure it will fit in my Oscar?

Doing some experiment at work and some basket are more difficult to use and need a near perfect distribution to avoid channeling.

Basket with a double basket 'conical' design seems to be the easiest to work with and need less distribution on the side. LM ridged basket needs a tamper that fits really nicely or the tamper will be stop by the ridges.