I do WDT with a sewing needle, medium width.
I guess sewing needles (at overwhelming spectrum of sizes) are more easily available then the dissecting ones...

I think the pattern matters, I mean one can stir the coffee in such a way that leaves it unevenly distributed (for example with a kind of hole in one or two or more spots). Personally I do circles that touch the basket. I do it gently (un-vigorously). I'm aiming to not needing any more levelling technique afterwards (I dose about 14.5g for doubles and 8.5g for singles, it's below basket's rim so no Schomer, no Stockfetch, no Chicago or anything is applicable).

I may do a sweep across the basket or a tap against the counter before the first tamp.
I'm still undecided whether to give up tapping or not.

Any comments?

I grind directly into a spare cappy cup and use the equivalent of a knitting needle to whip the grinds as one would do scrambled eggs - about 5 seconds worth. The change in volume is quite dramatic.

I then spoon this mix into a dry basket resting on the scale until I hit 15.0 g's. After a light tap on the countertop, I use my bent forefinger to do a few N-S-E-W moves and then level off with a pure circular sweep of the finger.

The grounds are typically slightly concave in the basket prior to tamping.

I remove the basket from the PF handle for dosing, and use the yoghurt cup (14g basket height, 16g height, and 18g height) to does right into the basket, rotating through at least 360 degrees while thwacking. Once I've got near the right dose, rigorous back and for the NS and EW to break up clumps, and then a stir with interlocking circles to distribute. Then I remove the cup/funnel and weigh the basket, removing anything above the dose that I've chosen, and then Stockfleth to level. Repeat as necessary (if I've got company), tamp, and then start pulling shots.

I slightly over-fill the basket. Hold it over the knock box and stir in a inward-spiraling motion with a straightened out L-shaped paper-clip.

Level with my finger. Tamp. Lock. Brew.

I've vacuumed up more than a couple of my WDT "special" paper clips, but lucky for me I bought bulk (I think there are about 250 per package for $2US).

Lately I've started timing how long it takes from removing the portafilter to re-installing it and I've got it down to under a minute pretty consistently.

Recently while wandering thru the aisles of a newly opened art supply store I came across a tool used for working with clay that looked like it would be perfect for the WDT. I don't remember what it was called but you'll know it when you see it. A very attractive tool for those into the aesthetics of their devices.

Some of these techniques are similar to what I have been using. So as to not repeat them, here is the thread including comments by Mr. John WDT himself:

http://www.home-barista.com/forum...achines-t4422.html

edwa wrote:Recently while wandering thru the aisles of a newly opened art supply store I came across a tool used for working with clay that looked like it would be perfect for the WDT. I don't remember what it was called but you'll know it when you see it. A very attractive tool for those into the aesthetics of their devices.

I use a neurologist's "hat-pin", myself - it's a big, blunt pin with a red ball on the end, normally used to test visual fields. Works for me!

I use the wire tool designed to clean the orifice of nozzles --on a water pressure hose, for example (nicely stout, thin, a loop on the end to grab.) My point might be finer, if not better.

BTW, I notice that the yogurt cup, when staticky, causes some coffee fines to cling. It occurs to me that those with finer palates might design some sort of static-producing device and finally find that fines can be removed in a controlled way--removing the fines that detract from the shot and keeping, you might say, the better bitters.

The WDT and tamping in general is one of the funniest things to listen to people expound upon. SO many examples of superstitious behavior. If we think about the physics involved, we basically want to break up clumps which may be of a different density and we want to disrupt any solid-solid "layering" interfaces that occur as the coffee is non-continuously placed into the basket. The result is relative homogeneity. Packing, polishing, tapping, etc. do not serve these goals and may create channels; hence they are not recommended. Since the WDT purposefully creates vertical laminations in the course of disrupting vertical channels that direct flow to the side of the puck, it must be done symmetrically and over the entire basket to optimize homogeneity.

drdna wrote:Packing, polishing, tapping, etc. do not serve these goals and may create channels; hence they are not recommended.

Adrian,

Are you saying that packing, polishing and tapping are never necessary....ever? Or only when using WDT?

My personal idiosynchratic behavior is the dose into a yogurt cup, remove coffee for desired dose weight. Pour into WDT funnel on PF. I make a tight CCW circle with needle while moving around the perimeter of the pF in a CW dir. Just a couple passes till it looks de-clumped and roughly level. Then a firm rap on the countertop and tamp. No additional leveling. No channeling since I've adopted this. And it's less messy, which doesn't matter in the cup, but makes my wife happy.

cannonfodder wrote:You still need a level coffee bed to start with but tamping is a North American thing. Most of Europe just levels the grinds, uses the built in tamper gadget on most grinders to tamp (or not at all) and lock the portafilter into the machine.

But, keep in mind most of these are cafe's with large commercial grinders, most with dosers that are not prone to the clumping problems most home.

Of course, clumping won't be fixed by tamping or polishing or whatnot. Tamping can help keep the showerhead clean, but I don't think it makes a better cup of espresso. The best cups of espresso I have ever had, the barista just barely tamped the coffee with the flimsy plastic tamping attachment. I firmly believe that it is easy to create cracks, fissures, and channels by tamping, polishing, tapping the basket, etc. I do a slow, careful light tamp to make a puck with an even surface on top. That's it.

I do also think that the WDT or any other method used to evenly distribute the grounds is beneficial. It may not always be necessary, and it may not always make for a better cup of espresso, but it is not going to hurt.

drdna wrote:The WDT and tamping in general is one of the funniest things to listen to people expound upon. SO many examples of superstitious behavior.

Skinner was a bit of a wacko, and behavioral pee-sychiatry has come a long way in half a century +.
I think that you not only miss Burry's point in the pigeon experiment, you might be missing the point of the WDT. (hint: it's 'better espresso')
On some of my grinders, WDT always makes the pull taste better than if I don't do it. It could be a superstition*, but I'm gonna say that if every time I WDT with that grinder it tastes better than any time I don't, I don't care why that is, just that it is.
Never assume that just because the results that you observe are one way that they are that way for everyone in every situation.



*I don't believe in superstitions, I think that they are bad luck.

WDT on steroids!

(500 Hertz wand first design to take coffee stains from teeth, now promotes them! )

Psyd wrote:On some of my grinders, WDT always makes the pull taste better than if I don't do it. It could be a superstition*, but I'm gonna say that if every time I WDT with that grinder it tastes better than any time I don't, I don't care why that is, just that it is.

The need for the WDT seems to me to be a reflection on the state of grinder design more than anything else. The two grinders with which I am most familiar (the Versalab and the Baratza Vario) do not clump. They therefore do not require compensating for the anomalies caused by grinders that do, making the WDT unnecessary.

hperry wrote:The need for the WDT seems to me to be a reflection on the state of grinder design more than anything else.

Indeed, as is noted several times in the article and even the introductory blurb:

How-Tos wrote:Many grinders inflict clumps, static, and uneven distribution upon the hapless home barista, keeping them from reaching their goal of extraordinary espresso. We can hope that these design flaws will eventually be addressed in home grinders. But until then, there is a simple, inexpensive solution to grinder problems: the Weiss Distribution Technique, or WDT.

While I did not mention it specifically my experience is that good grinder design requires very little manipulation. The Versalab distributes evenly and a couple of light taps and a single tamp to level suffice. Takes a little more with the Vario, but not much. "Needling" either grinder would not, in my opinion, make the distribution better.