ira wrote:The handle is Delrin(acetal), weighs 105 grams, the base is stainless and weighs 57 grams. I don't really understand balanced, you press straight down, what's to balance?

Ira

For me, it's a matter of how much active effort I feel it takes to level the tamper in the basket. A tamper with a heavier base relative to the handle feels like it sits level more easily.

I should also say that I am less a home barista and more a professional barista, so a tamper that is harder to knock over when sitting on the counter is preferable (because, like it or not, accidents happen).

I just bought one and I'm excited to try it out. Tamper prices are generally ABSURD, I'm happy to support a product designed to be budget priced and seems to be as effective as the MUCH more expensive options.

Mine has just arrived and I've worked for a couple hours with it on bar. It feels very good in hand. I have always been one to have most of the load of the tamp between the first finger and thumb rather than the palm of the hand, so the length is not as much of an issue as I would have though. I do not have any issue with using a tamper of this height. However, I understand Chris Baca's complaint from his recent video where he compares the BH tamper to the bigstep. Chris complained that he could not hook his ring finger around the tamp because it's just a touch too small, however I did not notice that to be much of an issue until I began to think about it. At which point, it did annoy me!

Hand length as a reference. Distance from tip of middle finger to the end of the palm is almost exactly 7 inches



How I found myself holding the tamp



Base of the tamp does not touch the base of the palm, as most tamps do



My ring finger did occasionally slip under the tamp but I did not notice it or find it to be an issue until I began to actually notice where my fingers were sitting at!

rand wrote:Mine has just arrived and I've worked for a couple hours with it on bar. It feels very good in hand. I have always been one to have most of the load of the tamp between the first finger and thumb rather than the palm of the hand, so the length is not as much of an issue as I would have though. I do not have any issue with using a tamper of this height. However, I understand Chris Baca's complaint from his recent video where he compares the BH tamper to the bigstep. Chris complained that he could not hook his ring finger around the tamp because it's just a touch too small, however I did not notice that to be much of an issue until I began to think about it. At which point, it did annoy me!

My hand is about 7 inches in long from middle finger to the end of my palm. Pictures as reference:

Thanks for the info, I'm waiting for the delivery of mine, I'm planning to use it more at home though, I use a 58,4 IMS tamper base at work, unfortunately it doesn't have a sharp edge, however it is still better with the IMS and VST baskets than regular 58 mm one

I've just picked up the tamper at the post office, it is really nice, I like it very much

I just got mine... FINALLY. The tracking for the package is absurd. Tracks the package until it leaves HK and then the updates just stop until you find the tamper in your mailbox eventually. That was my experience, anyway.

I'm not sure why anyone would need a tamper heavier than this one. It's got much more weight than I expected. It feels nearly as heavy as my Cafelat tamper. The weight is definitely more evenly distributed than traditionally designed tampers since it's not bottom heavy, but all that means is that you might have to adjust to compressing the coffee with slightly more effort. I use the same pressure as I always do so there was no real change for me. The biggest difference for me was using a tamper that better fits the basket as the Cafelat tamper doesn't quite go edge-to-edge and isn't flat. I wasn't expecting the flat base to be noticeable. Flat bases definitely feel different to convex bases.

Happy with the tamper. Great price and I don't care what my tamper looks like as long as I can flatten my coffee bed.

Spitz.me wrote:I just got mine... FINALLY. The tracking for the package is absurd. Tracks the package until it leaves HK and then the updates just stop until you find the tamper in your mailbox eventually. That was my experience, anyway.

Out of curiosity, when did you order yours? Figure I can gauge my arrival based on when you ordered, because as you said the tracking is useless (I'm in MTL).

I ordered on the 12th and it left HK on the 17th. Got the tamper on the 27th. I checked today and the tracking is still stuck at the 17th.

So, 11 business days. I paid extra to reduce the time from 13-16 to 5-9...

Received mine just after writing that post...

Initial impressions:
- It is not nearly as light as it looks in pictures... absolutely an adequate weight
- Fit in the basket is extremely snug. I use a ridged basket so when pulling the tamper out, the ridge of the tamper collects some coffee tucked in the ridge.
- The height is about on par with my RB tamper, but the fact that there is no "bulb" at the top means that it doesn't really make much contact with the palm of my hand

Overall, this has the potential to be a perfect tamper. The concept is great and the price makes a lot more sense than some other $200+ options! Perhaps a new handle option(s) will become available over time.

Update after a week of use...

The ergonomics of the tamper don't allow it to make sufficient contact with the palm of my hand VS my RB tamper. This means I'm tamping more with my fingers than I'd like, which in turn makes achieving a level tamp more challenging.

Second, the "razor edge" of the tamping surface, though it does provide and extremely tight fit, almost always picks up coffee on the way up. This is a real annoyance... maybe it would be less of an issue with a ridgeless basket, but I always have to wipe down the tamper or counter after use.

The ergonomics issue is definitely personal and could simply be solved with a few different tamper handle shapes to choose from. Unfortunately, I don't see how the residual grind pickup issue can be solved while keeping the tampers overall concept.