Is there any alternatives to WDT? I find WDT very cumbersome and I really suck at Stockfleth's move. Any advice will be really appreciated.

Get a better grinder (probably not the advice you had hoped for.)

Well... I do not have enough money to buy a pitcher, let alone a grinder.

The best alternative to WDT is to not do it.. Well, sure, easy to say.. But the way around it is to get a grinder that creates a grind that does not create clumps and so does not need WDT.

If your grinder does not clump, then a method to try is to weigh the beans you need for a dose, grind and completely fill the portafilter. Level off across the top with a straight edge, and then just tamp.

If that does not produce satisfactory results then to help assure that the distribution is uniform, I use an old aluminum tamper and tap the BOTTOM of the portafilter body. The trick is to move the portafilter downward as you move the tamper upwards so they both stop and the coffee compresses. These taps are very subtle, and you move around the portafilter to get the coffee level. harder to explain than to do, and it only takes about five seconds. After that, tamp then lock and load.

If doses are kept reasonable, a gentle side to side shake* and a couple of sharp vertical raps on the edge of the knock box tames all but the most recalcitrant grind. Nutate or not, with a light, level tamp.



mmm....mmm....good



* Hold the PF handle lightly between thumb and forefinger. Flick wrist quickly about 1/2" so PF handle bumps into palm heel. Two or three oscillations and the grinds are fairly even

So either WDT or get a better grinder? I am screwed.

Small flour sifter and a cut-to-fit cone funnel?

Randy G. wrote:Small flour sifter and a cut-to-fit cone funnel?

Yeah, that should address the "very cumbersome" slam.

For this amount of clumping is it really necessary to WDT?



Is it normal that after I swipe the excess grinds away form the surface using the back of a knife, I wont get a perfectly flat surface?

I had trouble with Stockfleth's until I realized if I didn't take the online and video demonstrations too literally, I might make it work and it's now working well. The point, I think, is to distribute the grounds fairly evenly through the portafilter and in doing so pre-fill any air gaps. Tamping finishes it off. Unless you're a professional barista needing to work fast, the Stockfleth's pre-compression doesn't even have to happen in one move.

I found at first that I was getting donut extractions (viewing the bottomless portafilter) where the coffee was too dense in the middle of the portafilter and would start dripping in a ring around that. So instead of doing a fairly level press over the top of the coffee cake, I create a parabolic indentation at the middle to leave more coffee at the edges and correct the tendency for too much density at the middle. I then do a nutating tamp (gently rolling the tamper like a coin rolling on its edges).

Also, my corrupted version of Stockfleth's involves making sure there's enough coffee in the basket that the heel of my hand can easily press it down. If the part of my palm near the thumb doesn't quite reach to compress the coffee with a clockwise turn (portafilter handle held in left hand and right hand presses into the coffee) I'll turn the portafilter counterclockwise and compress with the outer edge of my palm. With a lower dose I might switch from the double basket to a single one so I can still press the heel of my palm into the coffee cake from the top of the basket.

I hope that didn't seem too complicated.