For those who are interested in tasting coffee, skip to 5:23: There was a small difference, but not better. The extraction yield fans may appreciate this summary:

But where is the standard deviation of EY%?

How am I supposed to know if my coffee tastes better with or without the screen if I don't know the standard deviation?

Jake's comment is tongue in cheek, but it's got merit. One of the holy grails of espresso is consistency, and standard deviation (or variance) is a quantitative measure of this. So here ya go: Not much difference, which is unsurprising from a cursory glance at the data.

FWIW I've been using the normcore version of the puck screen with my DE1, and I like it enough to put up with an extra piece of gear to wash. As Sprometheus notes, the spent pucks are firmer, and the shower screen stays free of coffee grinds. Unlike SPrometheus, I have not observed any dramatic changes in flow rate. I will tentatively note increases in body and mouthfeel with the puck screen, but that is much more difficult to quantify.

yalag wrote:Thanks which is more affordable do you know?

I just received this puck screen from AliExpress that had been recommended in another thread here on HB. I got the 150 micron size. It only cost $5.51+$2.31 shipping. I ordered 2, and they shipped both with no additional shipping charge. It arrived 17 days after ordering, which is the fastest I've ever received anything from AliExpress.

I used it for the first time this morning. My reason for buying it was purely to reduce mess. I wasn't expecting it to improve or change my shot at all.

So far it is meeting my expectations. It fits my BaristaPro baskets perfectly. When I removed the portafilter after brewing, I just saw a few grains of coffee above the screen. It's possible using a screen with a smaller hole pitch might avoid this. I wipe off my shower screen when I am done with the machine for the day, and the rag was totally clean.

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to whether the screen should be applied before or after tamping. I dropped it onto the tamped puck, and I don't think it disturbed the puck at all. Although the screen was thicker and heavier than I expected, I didn't bother pre-heating it. I didn't see any difference in shot time or taste when using the filter.

If anyone's experience has been different, feel free to comment.

One time too many of "missing" slightly on the drop of the BPlus and messing up the tamped puck had me switching to tamping with the screen already in place. I use a dried out Robot paper filter to protect the face of the tamper.

I guess that is one advantage of using aeropress filters.

I take about 7 or so filters stacked and press down hard with my funnel (Ipanema) and leave an indentation to guide the scissors. Then I have a week's worth of filters. I rinse them off and reuse them for all of my shots in one session. Up to 4 or 5 shots or as little as 1.

This is with my CT2. Without it I get a divot in the puck and with it I get a clean screen and a flat puck.

I purchased the 58 normcore screen from Amazon, works great in my VST basket fwiw