I just recently went bottomless (my portafilter, not myself) and I'm now finding that WDT helps pull better shots, even with my Super Jolly and doser. But, I'll confess, I use the "hacked-off yogurt cup" more as a way to prevent spills and a big mess on my kitchen counter.

Wondering if anyone's productized an improvement over the yogurt cup? I'm imagining a nicer-looking and more rugged (probably metal) part that will stand up to a heated portafilter without problems, and maybe has less wall thickness so I don't have to spend much time "shaking" the portafilter once I remove the yogurt cup (there's always some space around the edge when I pull the cup away). Yeah, I know, I'm getting a little picky here, and the $0.50 yogurt cup is hard to beat, but WDT seems very popular and I'd probably jump on it if priced below $20.

Like all good ideas, though, it must already exist? Right? Any existing metal funnels out there that fit right?

You have saved me endless hours in post-espresso cleanup, over my lifetime. Thanks!

I have tried a number of things, and still come back to my old yogurt cup!

You could also tap down, knock down, the pf half way through the grinding. Then you don't even need the yogurt cup.

Grind halfway through.
WDT. Knock knock. (Who's there?)
Finish grinding.
WDT the top half.
Tamp.
Done.

That's it.... that's what I do.

The super jolly IS capable of non-wdt perfect shots. And though Im currently not using the WDT with my Major, Ive been a fan of it since I started, so I wont talk anyone out of it.

But you CAN, if you dose evenly, grind directly into a portafilter and tamp.

That said, the orphan espresso dosing ring is wonderful, Ive got one. Got a 53mm too from when I had a different machine. I think it should be slightly taller before it flares out, but otherwise, wonderful tool.

the OE ring finds more usefulness with levers, whose portafilters are often smaller. My caravel has a 43.5 mm basket and my peppina and sama have 45 mm baskets. With a commercial doser, or even the straight shot out of a vario, there is no chance of getting the whole dose where it belongs, the spread is just larger than the target. That said it makes distributing less of a headache.

That's exactly the reason I got my OE rings, for catching the Vario spray in my 45 mm La Peppina basket and then my 52 mm Gaggia Factory basket. OE also makes taller dosing funnels which may be easier to perform a WDT in, if that's what you're after. These come in fewer diameters, though, but the larger, more common portafilter sizes are represented.

pacificmanitou wrote:the OE ring finds more usefulness with levers, whose portafilters are often smaller.

Well, I wouldn't say "more usefulness". I use an OE ring for dosing into a standard 58mm basket.

I dose from my K10 WBC grinder into an OE plastic dosing tray that sits on a scale, which in turn sits on the forks. After dosing the desired weight, I squeeze the tray slightly and tap the grounds slowly in to the portafilter basket, which has an OE ring in place. This allows superior control over distribution of the coffee into the basket. If necessary, I gently tap the PF spouts on the counter to settle the grounds.

In particular, I make sure there are sufficient grounds around the perimeter of the basket. Without the OE ring, grounds would get all over the place when I do that!

My only beef with the ring is that it leaves a thin gap around the perimeter of the basket when removed. I would love it if the gap was much smaller (i.e., a ring made of thinner gauge metal), or better yet a ring that fits around the outside of the basket. Unfortunately, there's probably too much manufacturing variation in espresso baskets for this to work for OE -- except perhaps for VST baskets, which are made to much tighter tolerances.