Your Favorite Basket(s)?

by **innermusic** on Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:48 pm

In the wake of the "spirited" discussions regarding the VST... I'm wondering what people have found to be their favorite baskets (other than the VST), and what kind of results they get from those baskets.

by **Clint Orchuk** on Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:34 pm

12 gram straight walled ridgeless basket that came with a Quickmill. Holds 15 grams with a level finger swipe and plenty of headroom. Wish I could find another. Nice not to have to scoop out of a 14 gram basket to get a 14 or 15 gram dose.

by **da gino** on Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:52 pm

The usually mislabeled "La Marzocco" ridgeless both double and triple are by far my favorites.

EPNW sells them, but they've always been out of stock when I've wanted them so I've bought them with great success on ebay from Caffe Forte (username caffesospeso). I'd rather buy it from an HB sponsor since I like to support HB, but Caffe Forte has reasonable prices and incredibly quick shipping.

Clint you might want to try the double if you are looking for a second one.

Some day I'll try the VST's and see if they can knock off my favorite, but I'm happy enough that I am not in a rush.

Hugh

by **tekomino** on Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:37 pm

My favorite by far is ridged La Marzocco double.

by **shadowfax** on Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:49 pm

I think the ridgeless double basket is the one that's usually called an "LM" ridgeless (as you say, it's not LM). This one you can get from espresso parts (here), and they also are making an "HQ" version of it now. I got one of those recently but I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet. Regarding the ridgeless triple basket, I do not think it's usually associated with La Marzocco, but rather Synesso. EPNW sells this one (here), as well as an "HQ" version of it (here).

As it happens, Synesso's ridgeless double and triple baskets are very similar if not identical to both of these baskets. You can buy them from Synesso directly as well.

I've liked both of these baskets (the regular versions, not the HQs—I don't have enough experience with those to say much of use about them) a lot. The ridgeless 14g one was my go-to basket for a very long time. I've moved on to usually using the VST since it came out, with great results for my coffee prep style.

by **Marshall** on Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:16 pm

tekomino wrote:My favorite by far is ridged La Marzocco double.

Ditto.

by **another_jim** on Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:16 am

I've used the Faema (E61) doubles almost exclusively for many years, so I know them inside out on my setup, which makes it hard to change. But the recent basket wars have got me experimenting

I find the ridged LM double work very similarly, only the ridge can make tamping harder at lower doses.

The newer, more tapered Faema "microfine" baskets use a slightly lower dose for the same grind setting, which makes it convenient for any machine like the one I'm currently evaluating, which takes either unusually fine grinds or higher doses of regular grinds.

The VST is the opposite and has its own appeal. In particular, the grind that works for 14 gram doubles on the LM ridged double or E61 basket needs about 17 grams on the VST18. This means you can now updose for the extra taste punch, and still get the fine grind setting extraction useful for most SOs. Personally, I'm not a fan of "punchy" espresso. But for someone with the West Coast preference for punchy shots, but also looking to properly extract bright SOs, this basket is just the ticket. It does get finicky for more ristretto or lungo shots though, since the range of dose weight or grind adjustment from gush to choke is narrower on this basket than on either the E61 or LM ridged; so it is not as useful for people looking to do a wide range of flows, weights and grinds with one basket (like me).

I'll be posting a full report in a few days.

by **boar_d_laze** on Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:30 am

18g Strada.

BDL

by **cannonfodder** on Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:06 am

I use a lot of different baskets depending on the coffee/dose I am using. The faema style double, LM ridged double, Faema style triple, LM straight sided triple. No real favorite, just the best tool for the job at hand.

by **Javacat** on Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:56 am

70 percent of the time I go with the Synesso style 18g basket and the other 30 percent of the time I go with either the EPNW 14g double or the factory LM double (no taste difference that I can discern between the two).


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