Apparently I've been tamping way too hard - did it matter? - Page 3

#21: Post by **BaristaBob** » August 21st, 2018, 3:21 pm

ozo wrote:I grind into a straight sided triple shot basket (in bottomless portafilter) so no problems with spillage. My tamp is 30# (adjustable) but I have been watching videos and the Barista in some are barely tamping if tamping at all and the shots are still beautiful from the bottomless portafilters. Looks like it is time to experiment with a light tamp protocol.
I am now ordering a new grinder (sette 270) which drops some fluffy un-clumped grounds and so stacks 18 grams pretty high. My portafilter should work out great for that.

This video shows a shot only lightly tamped after dosing from a Sette. The barista does spin the tamp.

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Nice video Ozo. Thanks for sharing. Not sure I'm thrilled with this barista's technique. He did take the time to make sure his tamper was level, but after dosing the pf, a quick tap on the counter did not settle the mound of grounds properly or should I say proportionately (imho). I can still see a mountain of grounds in the center of the pf upon inserting the tamper. This will lead to uneven extraction, and most likely "poor" flavor profile in the cup.
He did spin the tamper though!

#22: Post by **Jake_G** » August 21st, 2018, 4:22 pm

If I remember my Schomer studies correctly, the important thing is that the tamper be spun with "flair" to polish the puck and trick customers into thinking their coffee tastes better because of it!