50 things to improve your espresso (revisited) - Page 2

#11: Post by **malachi** » May 17th, 2005, 10:46 am

Add one more downside to transfering from one vessel to another... additional time passes. Your espresso should be drunk as soon as possible.

#12: Post by **bobroseman** » May 21st, 2005, 8:06 pm

Just thought that I'd chime in with a comment about tamping. I think that I've tried just about every method recommended. My current method which results in consistent times and volumes with no channeling from my bottomless portafilter is what I call the 'finger poke' method. It is sort of like a perverted Staub tamp. After leveling and before tamping, I just poke my finger into to coffee all around the periphery of the basket. It's kind of like tucking the sheet in when making a bed or crimping pie dough while making a crust.

Bob

#13: Post by **IMAWriter** » July 15th, 2005, 9:42 pm

HB wrote:What I described in Dose, distribute, tamp. Repeat. is pretty much what Chris Deferio advocated.

Dan...forgive my obtuseness, but i seem to be getting conflicting theories here...I read on 1 hand when doing the "polishing twist, to do so WITHOUT downward force...and here, you describe doing it at the end with 20lbs of force....which is it?
TIA

July 15th, 2005, 9:59 pm

That's part of the reason I offered the joke:

Man playing horn or women's silhouette?
Debates among baristas can be equally ambiguous.

Specifically, I was quoting David Schomer's article, which said for the last step "Finish with polishing the coffee by turning the packer [tamper] clockwise with 20 pounds of force" (link). I don't agree with him on this particular point, but he's surely thrown out more shots than I've made, so I thought it worth mentioning if only to demonstrate that even among the most experienced, there are no absolutes.

#15: Post by **IMAWriter** » July 16th, 2005, 12:55 am

Just like songwriting...more than one way to screw up a good lyric! ;>D