What's the best single basket.

#1: Post by **Swissbariss** » May 17th, 2019, 9:42 am

Thanks to Oatly I can enjoy cappos again, however, I perfer a single shot and not by using the double basket and throwing one shot away. I have been getting decent shots on my Appartamento with a single basket but there is a lot of room for improvement. A Caravel single shot is my standard of measurement. So far my research has narrowed down three contenders.
1) IMS The Single
2) Decent Espresso single basket or
3) La Marzocco LM1 single basket.
Or maybe 4) VST single
From what I have read is that IMS >VST but people still cant get reliable results from the IMS single. It seems a love or hate affair.
The DE single, interesting design. Basically a double basket with less depth. Some say it is too shallow to be that wide.
The LM1 , based off of my experience using the Caravel and E61 machines is that for anything less than 12g coffee a basket with a deep and narrow design will have the best extraction. But I could be wrong.

My guess is the LM1 is the best but I have not tried any of these. Which would you buy or prefer if you have already them?

May 17th, 2019, 10:19 am

I just found the VST- 7 which is their take on the LM1.
Only one way to settle this.
Pistols at dawn!

#3: Post by **TV33** » May 17th, 2019, 10:29 am

hello,
With my Appartamento,I use a simple basket IMS 8-10g that I stuff to 10.5 or 11g. Impeccable result. This is this model.

#4: Post by **Moka 1 Cup** » May 17th, 2019, 10:42 am

I do not know what the best single basket is but I am very happy with the La Marzocco 7g basket, coupled to the Tidaka funnel and tamper. Video here.

Soon or later I will try the IMS 8-10g basket, just to see if I can eliminate the 40mm funnel/tamper and go with something more standard.

#5: Post by **guydebord** » May 17th, 2019, 11:09 am

I tried IMS and I think the Decent 10gr is better in every way.

May 17th, 2019, 11:23 am

Shots fired from DE.

#7: Post by **baldheadracing** » May 17th, 2019, 12:13 pm

The issue that I found with the IMS 'The Single' is one has to dose it beyond 'single' quantities for best results. For example, I found that I need at least 8.5g in 'The Single' for it to work. The big advantage is no grind adjustments are needed for double the coffee, i.e., I can use a 17g dose in an IMS precision basket at the same grinder settiing. As an aside, I did have to go with a Reg Barber C-Flat base with 'The Single' to avoid channeling at an 8.5g dose - with a flat tamper I had to go to at least 10g.

I also have the IMS clone of the LM single basket that Tidaka sells. With that basket (and Tidaka funnel and tamper) I can dose as low as 6.5g, although I usually dose 7.5g so I can keep the same grind setting as a VST 15g basket (dosed 15g).

I would say that I have found that the LM-style does more closely mimic the taste that a double basket produces. 'The Single' does have a unique taste. Perhaps ChrisCoffee summed it up best in their comparison video when they said that 'The Single' produces "lower acidity and a nice roundness" when compared to a conventional (non-VST) double basket.

That being said, I rarely pull singles with either basket. By far my best single basket is the 7g Elektra single, pulled in an Elektra Micro Casa a Leva

.

#8: Post by **another_jim** » May 17th, 2019, 12:34 pm

I think one of the main difficulties with all single baskets is not the baskets but the tamper. 58mm tampers are not really suitable for single baskets. If you dose them at their nominal 6 to 9 grams, the 58mm tampers don't really seal the very sloped edge of single baskets very well

The cheap Italian plastic tampers have a single side that's around 50mm, and the plastic tamper mounted on old style dosers is more or less designed for single baskets. I'm guessing a very rounded 50mm to 53mm tamper is best for most singles baskets in terms of sealing the edge.

May 17th, 2019, 4:26 pm

baldheadracing wrote:
That being said, I rarely pull singles with either basket. By far my best single basket is the 7g Elektra single, pulled in an Elektra Micro Casa a Leva .

This confirms my thinking that the LM style single baskets are the best single baskets because, by far my best single espresso comes from my caravel which has a similar portafilter design as the Elektra. I feel that under 12g the baskets that have a narrow and deep geometry extracts better than the wide and shallow geometry that works best at 15g+. IMHO, YMMV, Yada, yada, etc.

I even have a 44mm tamper for my Caravel. Or maybe its 43.8mm. I may not have to buy a tamper? Anyways I plan on getting the VST-7 and may get a LM1 at a later date just to compare.

#10: Post by **Moka 1 Cup** » May 17th, 2019, 7:51 pm

I ordered the "8GR. "THE SINGLE" PORTAFILTER BASKET - LA MARZOCCO". I hope it is the right one.
https://www.espressoparts.com/8gr-the-s ... a-marzocco

I'm looking forward to comparing it to the La Marzocco LM1.