I tested the single basket from my Pavoni but it is very difficult to get an even extraction and to my experience taste will always suffer with single baskets. The stock basket of the Picopresso really looks and feels like a precision basket and the holes also seem smaller. I could easily just put in 16 grams and I guess maybe with the help of a filter screen on top of the puck you could go even lower. I enjoy most coffees at about 15 to 16 grams. Really dark roast seem to usually be better at traditional doses (about 12 to 14 grams for a double).
The Picopresso allows you to control flow by pumping faster/stronger or slower/weaker and with low doses it might be preferable to ramp up the pressure slowly. Wacaco should bring out an attachable pressure gauge for the Picopresso soon. I'm looking forward to that although you naturally get a pretty good feeling for the right pressure when using the Picopresso.

This is the biggest problem I have with single basket vs double baskets... I find that that step lip sidewall interferes with the tamping and with a double basket you have straight side walls so you have a much better ability to compact the grinds evenly.

If they just make the nanopresso with more metal parts.... that would be my forever coffee maker...

If Wacaco is listening... make a metal basket and shower screen for the nanopresso!!!

You mean this?

Some machinist in vietnam apparently made it with a CNC machine. You could message him but i guess the price would be quite high

Thanks so much for the link, Coolbeanz. I ordered a 7g and a 14g basket to try.

I have been using the stock 18g basket with progressively smaller doses using an espresso blend that is a medium roast with a small amount of robusta from a local roaster. I am now getting 1:2 shots with only 14g tamped firmly in the basket. I really like what I'm getting. It's as good and maybe even a little better than the doppio I had from the local roaster's machine. That's pretty amazing from a Picopresso.The shots look visually top notch and have good texture. I am getting balanced shots with good sweetness if I preheat everything.

I am using a J-Max grinder and for the 14g shot, I'm using 1-3-5. For 16g, I have to open it up a little to 1-3-8. I like the 14g shot, but will try going even a little finer. Amazingly, I'm not getting a watery puck with 14g. I suspect that is because the grind is a little coarser than it could be.

I think you can easily outperform a normal commercial machine with the Picopresso due to its ability of pressure profiling. If you are not already doing it try to weaken your pumps during extraction to get a declining pressure profile. Usually you do this naturally because puck resistance gets lower during the shot and if you don't ease off the flow gets faster. Normal machines give 9 bars of pressure straight throughout the shot which is not ideal because puck resistance gets lower during extraction.
This is especially important with darker roasts and italian blends. I had a really dark roast which seemed awful on a classic pump machine but got really creamy and smooth once I tried it on a lever machine.

Marmot wrote:You mean this?
image
Some machinist in vietnam apparently made it with a CNC machine. You could message him but i guess the price would be quite high

That is super cool.

But it's still not quite right. The problem with the nanopresso is that the 'basket' is upside down and when you fill it you have to get the amount of coffee exactly right... and you can't tamp it accurately.

I had my solution where I drilled out the shower screen and then assembled the screen so I can actually tamp it from the top. This actually made my nanopresso just as good as the picopresso but the workflow is messy.

Wow! That's quite a difficult modification.
Another problem is the filter screen with the three large bolts. You can't get an even extraction with that.
I have an old lever machine with a 43mm basket which gives you a pretty similar espresso as the Nanopresso unpressurized. Those narrow baskets are great if you want a small single espresso. But for double shots I think the high cylindrical shape of the puck becomes a problem with the higher part getting overextracted.

If you invest another 27 usd in your Picopresso you can get a temprature controlled espresso machine with saturated brew group and instant pressure profiling. With the Picopresso plus shipping you end up with a total cost of 164 usd.
Now we just have to wait for wacaco to release their brew pressure gauge

Oh, and you might want to get a food save gasket. I used a piece of an old bicycle tire which might not be the best idea but served its purpose for a first round of tests.

I got a new accessory today. It does everything the YouTube things say it does. The extraction is slower. So I will need a few days to play around with it.

I attached a picture of the grounds a few days earlier and a picture of it just now with the screen. I will comment that the puck is much much dryer in the end with the b plus screen

I've been using a $10 puck screen purchased through Amazon but sold by a Chinese vendor and it took about 3 weeks to arrive. It works great. I ordered the 100 micron version. I've kind of settled on 15g in the stock Picopresso basket with the 1.7mm thick puck screen on top and pulled 1:2 ratio shots. If the grind size it right, I get a great shot and a really nice puck. I would much rather keep the showerhead clean and rinse off the puck filter and I love not having a sloppy puck on top.