These words may end up in the "Hall of shame" thread, but I've discovered that I can consistently produce better espresso with less frequent channeling when I use the plastic tamper that came with my machine.

I bought a fairly inexpensive concept art tamper when I bought my machine, as idrinkcoffee.com offered a discount on them as a package deal. I didn't even try the plastic one until a couple of weeks ago, and to my surprise, it's much better.

It really comes down to two things:
1) The height of the base (piston?) is perfect. With an 18 gram dose, I know that if I tamp so that the top of the tamper is flush with the top of the basket, I've got just the right amount of headspace. It also makes it really easy to feel if it's level.
2) I have small hands, and I'm short, so the shorter handle fits better and means that I don't have to raise my elbow as much to press down straight.

I think this picture illustrates the differences nicely:


The concept art tamper has a nice weight to it (240 vs 170 grams) and it's prettier. Otherwise, the plastic one wins, hands down. It's almost like it was designed specifically for the machine...

I think that there's two objections to plastic tampers, the material and the design. Most of the plastic tampers included with machines have such a thin disc for tamping that the design is just not good. In your case, you have a nicely shaped, large plastic tamper so the design looks to be good. After that, it's a mater of aesthetics about the choice of material and the look.

I use the bakelite (plastic) tamper that came with my La Peppina and it works perfectly. I actually am glad that I have an original tamper and have seen re-creations available in metal. It's small, but perfect for my method of tamping the small 45mm basket for this lever espresso machine.

Enjoy your tamper.

I like the lighter tamper that came with my Breville double boiler better than my heavy tampers. And like the way it stores magnetically in the machine. I end up using it most of the time.

That's a much nicer plastic tamper than most of the ones that come stock with machines, including many machines costing multi-thousands of dollars. Since it fits the basket and the handle feels good in your hand, I'd say there's no reason it should work just as well or better than a nice custom tamper. The biggest advantage of a custom tamper is the heavier steel piston, once you eliminate the issues of fit and feel. But I don't think the heavier piston is enough of an advantage to justify getting a custom tamper if you're happy with the plastic one.

Of course, you can find custom tampers with handles similar to the plastic one you have, if you want the nicer weight and wood handle of a custom job. But it seems unnecessary if you're happy with the one you already have.

I was also wondering if maybe your preference for the plastic tamper has to do with the difference of flat versus convex... at least that Concept Arts tamper looks like a convex tamper.

My La Peppina tamper is convex, but the generic 51 mm rosewood and metal tamper that came with my used Gaggia Factory (Millennium group) is flat, as is the Rattleware 53 mm tamper I use at work with my Mypressi Twist.

Both types of tampers work well for me, but my tamp is very different between the two. I lightly finger tamp with the La Peppina (usually after a nutation, but I haven't been using the La Peppina in a while) and I hold the basket in one hand and the tamper in the other with the flat tampers.

I had heard that the CC1 came with a pretty decent tamper, but I didn't realize it was *that* much of a difference. Good to know that it's as useable as I think it is... I'll probably continue to use it unless I happen to find an identical but prettier and heavier one.

yakster wrote:I was also wondering if maybe your preference for the plastic tamper has to do with the difference of flat versus convex... at least that Concept Arts tamper looks like a convex tamper.

Wow, this is embarrassing... you're totally right! I thought I ordered a flat one, but it definitely says "58c" on it. I thought the convexity would be more dramatic, but there certainly is a slight curve if I look closely. Ah well, just something else to learn about and play with.

This is the plastic tamper that came with my Mypressi Twist. I've never tried it, mainly because I already owned a Rattleware 53 mm tamper. This one's fairly rigid and probably one of the better included plastic tampers compared to some of the one's I've seen and is a close fit to the 53 mm baskets I have.

I wasn't able to find a picture of my La Peppina tamper, but you can see it in the following old video.

The plastic tamper that came with CC1 is in a totally different league than the other plastic tampers. I've used it and would give it 10/10 in term of functionality. Best tamper for the stock double basket. Perfect fit, weight and ergonomic. The only flaw is probably the lack of metal look, that's all.

For other plastic tampers, I don't think any of them even come close to this. Perhaps maybe the BDB's as mentioned.