Bottomless vs. double spout flavor?

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F1
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#1: Post by F1 »

After 3 years of strictly using a naked portafilter I decided to give the double spout portafilter a try. I immediately noticed a very significant difference in flavor. I used the same basket(IMS double), same coffee(Boxcar Stella), same grinder(K30), all parameters exactly the same. The only difference was that instead of 26secs with the naked portafilter it now took 28secs to get 35g out of 18g. The difference of 2 secs I think is down to the extra path and friction caused by the extra metal(spout) through which the liquid has to travel before it lands in the cup. I went back and forth with both portafilters and the resulting flavor was significantly different. The naked one always had a bit more crema as expected, but the color and weight(35g) were the same. I tried stirring the shot with a spoon to make sure that all the flavors were balanced, but they both tasted different. The spouted one tasted a bit more thin as a result of the slightly less amount of crema, but way more balanced(better). The naked one was the opposite, but still good. Is this normal?

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cannonfodder
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#2: Post by cannonfodder »

Yes. You will get a finer texture crema with spouts. Bottomless will get you a larger bubble, more fluff but less substance.
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marlodmb
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#3: Post by marlodmb »

Going have to try this out myself

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AndyPanda
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#4: Post by AndyPanda »

There will be a couple of temp differences as well. One is that the coffee in your cup will be a little cooler with a spout than with bottomless. And coffee absolutely tastes different as it cools (to my tongue it tastes better as it cools - or at least I can detect the flavors better after it cools a bit).

And the temp of the water hitting the coffee could actually be affected as well due to the extra thermal mass (assuming a heavy, brass portafilter) of the spouted vs bottomless. (depending on how long you leave the portafilter out of the group while grinding/dosing/tamping)

Tonefish
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#5: Post by Tonefish »

Splitting the stream must also put more coffee in contact with air on the way to the cup as well as a difference in how it hits the cup ... the splash if you will. Don't know how that could affect taste tho. Intrigued to try this too, except that my protafilter is cut for bottomless. :oops:
LMWDP #581 .......... May your roasts, grinds, and pulls be the best!

RockyIII
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#6: Post by RockyIII »

I used to use spouted but now always bottomless. If there is a difference in flavor, I did not notice it, although I never actually compared one versus the other in immediate succession.

Rocky

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JohnB.
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#7: Post by JohnB. »

A few oldies on the subject:

Espresso texture from spouted versus bottomless portafilter

I've got those spouted portafilter blues

I switch back to a spouted pf for a day or so about once every 2 years. Don't really see the attraction & I'm quickly back to using my bottomless pfs daily.
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Renegade
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#8: Post by Renegade »

Bottomless is great for extraction diagnosis. Once the technique is masterized, I always used single spout portafilter and will never go back.

Bottomless is providing too much bubbly crema for me. I prefer a more compact/shiny crema, which I stir 60% of the time when drinking straight shots unless I want to taste the layers of the shot one by one.