I actually dropped my bottomless for a couple of reasons:

I find the best recipe for a cappuccino is based about 16-19 grams of espresso, so I split my shots often. Switch portafilters back and forth can be a pain for temperature swings so I just stick with the spouted.

Also, I genuinely believe eye-cupping came close to ruining espresso for me. I always found the VST baskets to taste the best, but would have always have a couple of minor spurts... which meant I had a spot of dried espresso on the rim on my white cups telling me how inadequate i am as a barista for the duration of my drink!

Kidding aside, I found myself unable to taste a mediocre shot vs great, because unless it poured perfectly, my brain already told me it wouldn't be any good. I got a beautiful LM portafilter for my E61 and now use it exclusively. My shots taste much better, because my palate is now trained to help me make adjustments, not my eyes.

HB wrote:Search is your friend (again)

SonVolt wrote:I hope you're a bot (again), cause if not - why not just shut the forum down and provide a link to a PDF?

Sorry about that. As noted in the Guidelines for productive online discussion, we ask members to "Help raise the discussion level" by leveraging the how tos, resources, FAQs, search and search tips. Newbie questions are welcome, but they are more likely to receive thoughtful replies if some initial research is done beforehand.

To put it another way, it's more interesting for long-term members if a discussion acknowledges the points make in the past rather than simply repeating what's already been stated. Since long-term members often have the most experience, the admonishment to "help raise the discussion level" keeps them engaged. Otherwise, if the forum discussions degenerate to the point that it's little more than rehashing of accepted wisdom, many of the contributors with the most to offer will move on out of boredom.

I hope this explains the context behind my mild rebuke. That said, I don't want to be a "read the FAQ!" jerk, since I realize that so-called newbies are responsible for the majority of new and interesting discussions. Thanks for the reminder to lighten up.

Try this: http://www.baristahustle.com/how-to-dis ... y-tapping/

Just make espresso, get back to the basics, and don't overthink anything about the prep. Thinking too hard about espresso always gets me in the realm of bad espresso.

Ryan, I'll bet you have the same problem I had. I solved it by using the WDT and now use the NPF only to check my distribution, and the results in the cup are getting more consistent.

HB wrote:Sorry about that. As noted in the Guidelines for productive online discussion, we ask members to "Help raise the discussion level" by leveraging the how tos, resources, FAQs, search and search tips. Newbie questions are welcome, but they are more likely to receive thoughtful replies if some initial research is done beforehand.

To put it another way, it's more interesting for long-term members if a discussion acknowledges the points make in the past rather than simply repeating what's already been stated. Since long-term members often have the most experience, the admonishment to "help raise the discussion level" keeps them engaged. Otherwise, if the forum discussions degenerate to the point that it's little more than rehashing of accepted wisdom, many of the contributors with the most to offer will move on out of boredom.

I hope this explains the context behind my mild rebuke. That said, I don't want to be a "read the FAQ!" jerk, since I realize that so-called newbies are responsible for the majority of new and interesting discussions. Thanks for the reminder to lighten up.

Thanks Dan, I fully understand. I dove head-first into the world of espresso 1 year ago and home-barista.com has been the absolute best resource by far of all online resources in getting me up and running. Keeping the signal-to-noise ratio in check only made my research easier, even if it means getting my pride trampled on just a little

If I had the ability to share a video I would, but don't have a method to film my whole process!

Ok so here's another question.. How long did it take for those of you who feel you have a handle on distribution (no pun intended) to get there?

I've been at this for about 6 months now but only get espresso on weekends...

Thought about getting decaf so I can drink some at night!

Use of a bottomless portafilter has little impact on the extraction (other than slightly more "foamy" crema). You can hide extraction flaws more effectively with a regular PF, but that does not correct them. Seriously uneven extractions will produce unbalanced flavors in the cup, because parts of the puck are overextracting while others are underextracting. If you cannot achieve a reasonably decent bottomless pour, you will never extract the best out of your coffee.

HB wrote:What's the dose? If there isn't enough headspace, donut extractions may occur.

As always, the key to an even extraction is grind, dose, and distribution. You have an adequate grinder in the Vario, a 0.1g scale for consistent dosing, and WDT for distribution. Dan asked the obvious question at the beginning of this thread, but it's gotten lost in the noise. Reducing the dose is an effective way to combat donut extractions. Once again: what is your dose? Try downdosing by a couple of grams, adjusting grind as required to maintain flow rate.

RapidCoffee wrote:Use of a bottomless portafilter has little impact on the extraction (other than slightly more "foamy" crema). You can hide extraction flaws more effectively with a regular PF, but that does not correct them. Seriously uneven extractions will produce unbalanced flavors in the cup, because parts of the puck are overextracting while others are underextracting. If you cannot achieve a reasonably decent bottomless pour, you will never extract the best out of your coffee.


As always, the key to an even extraction is grind, dose, and distribution. You have an adequate grinder in the Vario, a 0.1g scale for consistent dosing, and WDT for distribution. Dan asked the obvious question at the beginning of this thread, but it's gotten lost in the noise. Reducing the dose is an effective way to combat donut extractions. Once again: what is your dose? Try downdosing by a couple of grams, adjusting grind as required to maintain flow rate.

Thank you for the insightful post! Yes, that point was lost in translation. I have historically dosed about 18G. But I will switch to 15 or 16 for a while and see how that works.

Thanks!

RapidCoffee wrote:If you cannot achieve a reasonably decent bottomless pour, you will never extract the best out of your coffee.

Has this been proven in blind tastings?

I doubt it's been proven, but I'm about 99.9% positive it's true. If you aren't extracting parts of the puck, then of course flavor or something will be lost... I can't think of a good example.