I've gotten back into making espresso after a 4 year hiatus and with the incredible revolution in grinders, I'm wondering if there's some new way to groom the puck. Right now, my workflow is to grind into the Lyn Weber blind shaker then drop the grounds into the basket, WDT a little then tap the basket onto the mat then tamp with another great product, the Levtamp! My wonder is, there's always a slight indentation around the edges of the basket from where the blind shaker base fits into the basket. I don''t get donut extraction but the extraction always begins at the edges before developing the remainder of the basket bottom. I was thinking about trying a grooming tool as I don't trust my finger to keep the basket density uniform. Are there tricks to making grooming tools work better? I read the review on socratic coffee that said basically, grooming tools make extractions worse but maybe they weren't using the tool correctly?

Try using an Orphanespresso Ipanema funnel with your blind shaker.

A Tidaka funnel will sit on the rim of the basket rather than going down inside it like an OE funnel.

I like my Kafatek grooming tool, but I'm not sure how objectively useful it is.

mitch236 wrote: I was thinking about trying a grooming tool as I don't trust my finger to keep the basket density uniform. Are there tricks to making grooming tools work better? I read the review on socratic coffee that said basically, grooming tools make extractions worse but maybe they weren't using the tool correctly?

I use KafaTek grooming tool and it works extremely well for me. I read Socratic Coffee report, but premise of that test was to use grooming tool as distribution tool and lets face it, these tools are not distribution tools since they don't reach nearly deep enough to distribute throughout whole puck. I use WDT combined with grooming tool and it works great.

I dose into a LWW Blind Shaker sitting on a scale, do a WDT whisk with a small whisk with the stopper removed in the Blind Shaker, then use the Mahlgut Palm Dozer & Tamper that I'm partial to. That pretty much nails it.

Thanks for all the info! I've ordered the Tidaka funnel as that product does exactly what I need. To grind into the basket without getting a ridge from the funnel. I don't understand why all the funnels aren't made that way. Maybe it really doesn't matter much for extraction but I'll give it a try.

I have the KafaTek grooming tool. How deep do you set it? Just barely scraping the surface or go in a little deeper?

Don't think it's unusual to see extraction start at basket rims as long as it rapidly fills across the entire surface.

Consider that you have a ground/metal interface. Water will move differently there. Could argue that this is normal?

I also use the LW shaker blind tumbler--like it a lot.

I agree with you, polished insides of the basket, coffee does not stick to it well and water gets path of least resistance there...

I found this video explaining how to use the OCD which also applies to Kavatek's grooming tool. After watching this and understanding how to use it, I tried it last night and this morning and it works great! Not every shot is perfect but even the worst shot still flowed nicely and tasted good. For me, prepping only 2-4 shots a day, I would never get enough experience to improve my technique to compete with this device.