I just love the consistency and the feel of my 58m espro tamper, but when using it with the 58m portafilter of the Alexia, it leaves about a 1-2 mm gap around the edges - which of course means when 1st leveling the puck, i have to tamp on all four corners before I do my final #30 tamp. At 1st it didn't bother me, but now as I am pulling more shots for family and friends, its getting EXTREMELY annoying.

I wish I could get a 59m tamper from espro - what's a high-tech-piston-loving espresso fan to do with the E61????

I see the same coffee "residue" on the outside of the basket after tamping the center. I tend to wipe it away with my finger to clean up the rim of the basket. My thought on this is it helps prevent coffee from getting on the gasket and shower screen thus making cleanup and general maintenance of a clean machine easier. Is this a bogus idea and should I just go ahead and pull the shot?

Thanks

Dan

I hope I'm not taking this off topic but

I generally dose at 14 to 14.5 gm for most blends or SO's I use. So this isn't from any tapping. Its the coffee that adheres to the inside of the basket from the level bed of tamped coffee (below the indented line around the basket about .25 inches below the very top rim of the basket) to the top to the basket. I just run my finger around the inside of the basket without touching the bed of coffee to remove as much adhering coffee as possible. Is this a waste of time and being all inside the basket can I assume it will not contaminate the gasket and require more cleaning? Sorry if I'm not being clear.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since the Espro tamper is a part machined on a lathe, I assume it is dead accurate at 58mm. I find a lot of difference in the stamped baskets. They're pressed from sheet metal and I think there is a lot of variation fom basket to basket (Spring-back during manufacturing).

I also have the Espro 58mm tamper and I brought it to the store with me when I went "basket shopping". My new LM ridgeless double basket fits it perfectly. (My standand Rancilio double basket is about 2mm too big).

Thanks Dan - you have saved me some time.

As Endo points out, baskets tend to have a bit of tolerance in manufacture. They are die stamped and over time the dies wear and the tolerances change. You could use a caliper to measure the ID of the basket and the OD of the tamper to get the real numbers. The Marzocco standard double baskets tend to run small (57mm). If your tamper is machined a tad on the small size, you could always try a standard LM ridged basket (the ridgeless is a true 58mm).

Gimme undersized vs a very snug fit. About 1mm smaller is about right.

The Pallo Coffee Tool makes it a snap to clean stray grounds. A 2-4 sec flush and brush and the group is clean as a whistle. The back side of the brush has an [unused ] poker for cleaning steam wands and the end of the handle is a measure for Cafiza, etc.


No burned fingers.