TomC wrote:I'm curious about this too, but I highly doubt I'd buy one. I think the only thing the developers of this device could cling to, would be that it may help single dosing, consistent basket prep without the need of WDT. But I wouldn't shell out the funds (or bother with the added time) to "groom" just the top 1/4-1/3rd of the basket, if the rest underneath was still channel prone.

If after dosing all that was required was some downward taps with the PF and then leveling top with this I'd get one. I can never level the top of my puck because I dose below the rim.

RyanJE wrote:baldhead, did you get one of these? If so, thoughts?

Yes, I got one - I posted my early results above. I haven't had a chance to do much else - to be honest, I haven't pulled an espresso in quite a while.

That being said, I agree with Russel's prior post, the OCD is a device for a shop with multiple baristas working (at various levels of competence). For home use, WDT or similar works just fine. The thing with OCD is setting the depth is key to making the tool work (and I have no idea how the tool works, just that the depth has to be just so for the tool to work) - and that depth can change with different coffees. This is fine if you're like me and drink the same coffee every day (as I roast through 20 lbs of greens ), but otherwise ... but yes, no WDT, and once the depth is set for your coffee, you're good to go. Just a little bit of tamping required (again, I don't know why). The closest thing to the process mechanically is probably the Breville Oracle's automated dosing/distribution/tamping system (which also works just fine).

I have been recently playing around with the OCD and can't determine how deep I should have it set too. Should I have it so it applies very little pressure to the puck or set it deeper so I get very minimal movement when I go to tamp. Or If you set it deep enough is there even a reason to tamp?

FWIW, right now you can watch Bethany Hargrove's technique with the OCD at the recent USBC championships. Go to http://uscoffeechampionships.org/watch , and find the video for Saturday Rounds 6 - 10. Her routine starts at about 19 minutes. She uses a quick twirl of the OCD on an ungroomed dose, then follows with what looks like a moderate tamp.

zapa wrote:I have been recently playing around with the OCD and can't determine how deep I should have it set too. Should I have it so it applies very little pressure to the puck or set it deeper so I get very minimal movement when I go to tamp. Or If you set it deep enough is there even a reason to tamp?

I found setting the OCD relatively deep worked best. This resulted in very minimal additional puck compression from tamping - a couple mm - but tamping was needed. (Both results in terms of maximizing extraction yield from light roasts, ground on Pharos'.)

YMMV

I would be most interested in a discussion from OCD users here, about the depth to use. As mentioned in a previous post on this thread, I use mostly an 18 gm ridgeless VST basket, and have tended to updose a bit. When I attempted to use the OCD with its spacers for added depth (both at 18 gm and at 18.5 - 19 gm) I got an uneven surface, not the nice flat surface seen in the videos. I rapidly discovered that back down around 18 gm of two different roasts in this basket, and using the OCD without spacers at its shallowest depth, I got a smooth surface, and very flavorful, complex shots, better than what I had got before regardless of what I did previously for distribution.

So currently I must being doing something right, but I am not fully clear on exactly what the OCD does and how deep it needs to go. From the videos of it available online it does not appear to me that full depth is being used. But just grooming the surface probably is not the full story either. The bottom line is that the OCD seems to work well, but I am the sort who likes to know the supposed theory of what I am doing.

I have been using the ocd with the blind shaker from LW and wow. If you have one around I am going to suggest you all try the combo of the two.

If anyone knows how to get something like the old for 49mm let me know!

Got one of these.. Here's my initial take... It should probably be called a grooming tool, not a distribution tool, highly doubt it does anything for distribution. I got it for grooming doses below the rim, which is my usual, and didn't expect any distribution improvement.

I'm dialing in a new Compak K10, so haven't used my bottomless PF yet. What I have noticed, is that the middle of the "star" appears to compact (understandably) the middle of the puck. Also, it picks up a bit of coffee that sticks to it.

I can report back when I use my bottomless soon. I fear that I will be getting dead spots in the middle of the basket. It almost looks like you would have to start with a concave dose.

The other thing, it's very unclear how the spacers and various depths affect things.

From Nick Cho's twitter,


A chinese manufacturer has made a knockoff version for 1/10th the cost when you order 500 of them. I am not going to link to the sale page for obvious reasons.