Bluecold wrote:Who here has ever tamped with a wet tamper? I have, this morning (spilled a bit when refilling the La Peppina). It channeled badly (no naked pf, but the flow was much faster and it didn't taste as nice). Storing the tamper on the cupwarmer keeps it dry.

What I do is wipe the tamper with a dry object like a towel. This seems to remove moisture and keep the tamper from being wet.

As to the heated tamper? Listen, we pre-heat our port-a-filters, baskets, and such because they will be in contact with the water during the extraction process, and we want the water temperature to stay as stable as possible for extraction. The tamper should never contact the water, so pre-heating is not necessary. There are no significant physical processes related to the minor temperature differential between the ambient room temperature and the local temperature above the cup warmer that will affect the coffee grounds.

Bumper tamper holders do a fine job of isolating the tamper from water. Attention and a towel do the rest, IMO. Still don't see the need for my tamper to be piping hot, or take away my cup space....

Warming tampers? When I do this I'm not thinking about the coffee. I keep my tampers on the cup warmer because both have metal handles and they feel more comfortable in my hand when warm. Especially in the winter, when my ambient room temp is usually around 65°-67°F.

I look at the small amount of grounds that builds up under the place where I store my tampers presently, (and I do a tiny, no-pressure twirl to clean grounds off the tamp as the last move) and that's enough to discourage me from placing those on top of the grill between the outside world and all the plumbing and electrics/electronics responsible for my morning cuppa.
If you're gonna clean it before you put it down, ya might as well clean it before you pick it up. Half of one, six dozen of the other.
I think that whether it's warm or not has very little to do with the pull you get from that last tamp, and more to do with how it feels in your hand. I could get over a cold tamp real easy after one foray into the body of my Astoria to clean out old grounds.
If you've a flat, un-perforated top, I guess it makes as much difference on the 'spro as boxers or briefs

Bluecold wrote:Who here has ever tamped with a wet tamper?
I Storing the tamper on the cupwarmer keeps it dry.

I agree wholeheartedly. It is not just that the tamper is warm but when I put it on the counter top more often than not the bottom gets wet and sticks to the grinds makes a messand ruins the shot. I store mine on top of the cup warming surface which is covered by a small dark brown towel. Carl

I personally just put my tamper wherever there is room. I am frequently moving the few things Ive got on the bartop, and sometimes the tamper looses its spot. Often times it ends up on the grinders skirt, and other times it ends up on the cup warmer, but, only cuz thats where there is room.

honestly, I dont think that even if you put your tamper in the freezer, that it would make any difference, other then condensation making the coffee stick to it.

drdna wrote:What I do is wipe the tamper with a dry object like a towel.

Great tip! Do you think a dry object like a towel would be better than say a dry object like a baseball?

Sorry I couldn't resist.


If you find the cup warmer is a good place to store your tamper that's one thing. But for tamper on the cup warmer = better espresso, I am putting my foot down. This needs to be added to the list of not all that important tips for espresso.

This was really not intended as a serious discussion piece, but the thread just won't die. If you keep your tamper up there, you will get coffee grounds inside your machine. Verfied that while changing a thermocouple on the old Silvia. Need to use more emoticons.

Next topic, UV tinting on the grinder hopper. Do beans really need SPF 45?

Actually, there's a series of Heather Perry videos giving talks on making espresso at home on YouTube. (I'm too lazy to go find it. ) She recommends keeping your beans away from the windows and in dark containers so that the light doesn't affect them.

To tell the truth, this exact reason is why beer used to always be sold in brown bottles -- beer is photosensitive. If beer is photosensitive, I'll bet beans are too.