zefkir wrote:It's nice that yours only show minor signs of under extraction. Do you think there's anything you might be doing in particular to help edge flow in your normal shots?

Nothing intentionally. I mentioned earlier I dose pretty low at 14g and don't tamp hard because I thought they might be a factor but don't really know.

Also, I don't think shots without a bottom paper are channeling, you're dialing your shots so that the center area is extracted to your desired extraction already, so they won't be over-extracted.

Oh I use the term channeling for all uneven extractions. Maybe a minor uneven extraction shouldn't be called channeling.

More importantly, how does it taste?

Well, one outer spot flowed too fast (perhaps due to the paper folding) so it caught me off guard a bit. Thanks to the huge advantage of direct manual lever, I was able to counter it and perform a "soft landing" lol. I thought it tasted surprising fine despite the flow issue, very similar to my normal shots prior. I have to try more shots to get a better sense.

K7 wrote:...very similar to my normal shots prior. I have to try more shots to get a better sense.

So I've been trying out the paper filter method for a few days. To summarize my findings:

- Outer holes definitely flow better.
- Accordingly, some occasional dark spots along the edge on the spent puck are less frequent and less dark.
- Taste is good and quite similar as before...so I don't think the EY has changed a lot in my case--YMMV significantly as others have commented earlier. I do feel the shots tend to be slightly more smooth/homogeneous on average. I attribute this to more uniform extraction across the puck. I personally like it, but I suspect some people may find it lacking "complexity".
- Robot and Aeropress paper filters are too large IMO. The edge rests creased along the tapered part of the basket and causes issues with tamping and gushing flow in my experience. I don't know how you guys did it without trimming.

All in all I like it. Once I got the temperature and preheat routines figured out, the lack of basket choices (to fix the outer flow) was my only gripe. This seems to be a good workaround.

I should get a 2" (or 1 3/4") hole puncher to make it less of a hassle.

Thanks for the tip!

I'm undecided on the size at the moment. I think 1-7/8" would fit perfectly but only see 2" and 1-3/4" options.

K7 wrote:So I've been trying out the paper filter method for a few days. To summarize my findings:

- Taste is good and quite similar as before...so I don't think the EY has changed a lot in my case

I tried the paper filter method on my Lelit Bianca and also found the taste is quite similar as before, but the EY is indeed increased.