Sometimes I think that this newsletter just highlights how insane I am...
... for some reason I own a lot of coffee tampers. Let me explain why and some of the things I've learned about tampers along the way.
A cheap plastic tamper came with our first coffee machine. It did a passable job, but was clearly not a great fit for the portafilter (I remember having to tamp in slightly different spots to flatten the puck) and didn't feel very good to use. I aspired to a Pullman tamper, at the time the best Australian manufacturer. And then the world went nuts in 2013 when a young and flamboyant Australian barista by the name of Matt Perger surged to prominence in the World Barista Championship. I remember him bringing two significant changes to the coffee industry. Firstly he brought a commercial grinder, the Mahlkonig EK43, to the attention of the espresso making community. The EK43 uses absurdly enormous 98 mm flat burrs and, when aligned correctly, these burrs grind coffee which produces espresso shots with remarkable flavour clarity. The other thing which Perger focused our attention on was the precision with which the tamper fits the basket. To my recollection he was the first person to promote 58.7 mm tampers in order to compact a higher proportion of the puck surface. To this day the PergTamp (bottom left of the photo heading up this newsletter) remains my favourite 58 mm PF tamper and, at least to my eye, is also the most beautiful. It also feels perfectly weighted. It was so good that I bought a second PergTamp just in case anything ever happened to my original!
Since then I've collected a few more tampers. I have a couple (one spring-loaded, one springless) from the Seattle-based manufacturer of my Kafatek grinder. They're beautiful pieces of work. More recently I've purchased tampers which fit the 49 mm step down billet basket that I'm currently using. Finally I've purchased tampers which feature ripple bases. The ripple increases the surface area of the tamped surface to aid faster extraction in the first stages of the extraction. Knowledgeable people confidently assert that this results in better tasting coffee. I don't see it... but that's likely because of the very slow preinfusion that I use which gently blooms the ground coffee in the portafilter prior to full pressure extraction.
A couple of quick notes that go beyond the subject of tampers:
- I am constantly asked for advice about coffee equipment and especially coffee grinders. I've decided that it's time to start selling coffee equipment on this site so I am currently bench testing some fabulous coffee grinders... stay tuned; and
- If you have been curious about Coffee Prototypers then you should get in on the next edition, I've just taken delivery of some very special beans... a very rare process Ethiopian!
Purchase Coffee Prototypers here.
Have a great day!
To see examples of reader latte art click here
To read our coffee roaster history click here