Serious question - what is the rationale for prepping a basket in the PF? It is obviously a widely accepted practice and many tamping stands exist for all manner of PFs. That being said, when I first started out making espresso at home and very much learning as I went, I just naturally prepped the basket outside of the PF and then placed it in the PF. It just made sense to me to do it that way. I was surprised to learn that in cafe settings, it's virtually always prepped in the PF. What is the advantage?

My basket is hard to get out of the portafilter and my prep "stands" are so easy to use that it's a non-issue to keep the basket inserted.

In cafe settings, I imagine the main consideration is speed.

A cafe with a line of 10 Caravels next to the pourover stands would be ... interesting.

I want to go that cafe!