I WANT EVERYONE TO GO TO WWW.COFFEETAMPER.COM.AU and BUY a PULLMAN TAMPER...they are absolutely stunning and the business this guy runs is second to none!

Joe
Homebush Bay

jchiha wrote on Jan 30^th, 2006, 5:03pm:


We're a little short on detail here, Joe.  Would you care to elaborate?  These tampers have been recommended before, but .............I'd like to know specifically what it is you have to say about the company/tamper..

jchiha wrote on Jan 30^th, 2006, 8:04pm:


Now that's a very concise and comprehensive review.  I would order one with confidence.

ditto.

it just sucks that the La Marzocco baskets can vary in internal diameter just enough to be annoying. The LM basket I sent to Greg is just a fraction bigger internally than the double basket that arrived with my new portafilter! So my tamp fits one basket perfectly, but gets stuck in the other!

Not that that is Greg's fault, let me make that clear! It just means that rather than leaving one basket in a naked pf, and the other in my spouted, I have to pop the bigger basket out of whatever pf it will be in, to use it in the other.

I got myself one about 1.5 years ago.  Its a very nice tamper ... well worth the price.  Buy Aussie!

victor wrote on Feb 1^st, 2006, 5:15pm:


Flamin heck. Times must be changing. In my uni days ALL spare coin was to be spent on beer. Luckily I have matured a little since then . A Silvia on tap when studying ...you lucky lucky bastard (said hanging upside down with my best Python impersonation).

Quote:

What I wouldn't give to be spat at in the face!!

The Pullman Tamper is indeed a worthwhile investment.
Never look back!  

I don't think you need to oil the handle if you use it regularly.
I believe the 'oils' you impart from handling it are sufficient.
Certainly mine still looks and feels great after 18 months.

Well, I have a stock standard Silvia and I just ordered the tamper without sending the baskets in.
My tamper fits fine, but there is always a slight risk that your baskets might have a slight variation.

Rather than send your basket/s in, another option is to take your baskets to a hardware store, or someone who has access to a measuring tool called a vernier caliper - as mentioned on his web site:
http://www.coffeetamper.com.au/FAQ.htm#ExactMeasurement
and send Greg the exact measurements.

I think you should be alright with silvia, i used the vernier's and gave Greg the measuremts (so do that if you can). it fits perfectly! although it does sometimes stick slightly in the LM basket i received a while back (obviously not Greg's fault).
As a side note, i was curious to the difference this tamper was going to make.... believe me  it  is  huge!!  especially from the thing provided with silvia.
Very happy with the purchase and the service Greg gave leading up to his holidays before christmas. Great effort

KoNG

All good, have access to one of those fancy rulers now Will be ordering the tamp early next week, hopefully bring a little more consistancy to my shots  

Speaking of thermocouples, very interested in getting that kind of setup too.

I've ran some tests with a multi-meter and k-type probe, but instead of doing any modding I just ran the probe wire through one of the portafilter spouts. At that point the water had already gone through the coffee puck and basket, so perhaps making the readings misleading...

Will open another thread for this anyways

Will someone put me out of my missery. One of you good folks did at some time post a pic of a leaver operated tamping machine. For the love of searching I cannot find the pic. So if you have a pic or know of a supplier of these devices can someone please let me know the details.

This thread is interesting as there is much discussion on tamp pressure. It is elusive isn't it? I mean what works for one doesn't work for another witness the 2 barista's. The grind, the tamp and the type of filter all interact to make crema. I tried using a open Krups basket abit at first it seemed ok but one time I had to make a lot of essence so changed over to the Sunbeam double only to find that i got more crema.

Use of the double basket for a single shot is good in that the volume of grind that fills the basket to the top is the quantity i use.  When this is tamped it goes some way down the basket, about 4mm. Repeating this process gives me repeatability as I do the same grind. The shot usually runs 15 to 20 sec.  The shorter the shot the more creamy the coffee.

I have found that my tamp pressure does vary inspite of my trying to make it the same.  I have looked at those clickers and whilst they would do the job if used carefully i want gay abandonment as I'm usually talking whilst making a brew and some times the need for concentration is lost in the banter.

Whilst picking up an early breakfast latte this morning from my local coffee shop I watched the female barista as she alone behind the counter proceeded to serve 5 of us all in the same time frame. She had the whole process off pat.  She was fully in sync with the process producing one great brew after the other.  I couldn't resist it I just had to say well done. She smiled back and said "know about coffee do you?"  Just a little i replied as she proceed to use the doser and then take the portafilter up to the fixed tamp.

Now here is where it gets interesting.  You see she was woking flat out, arms and legs and torso going at a great rate. Poetry in motion really.  But then the tamp pressure was nothing more than a quick upward movement of the portafilter agaist the fixed tamp plate.  The pressure at a guess would be no more that 6 to 8lbs. Basiclly she was just tidying up the grind in the PF.

Like I said poetry in motion and customer service at its best but was she getting maximum extraction?  Lest face it we pay for a coffee, right, if we only get half the extraction and this makes for a great brew and the grind gets thrown out who cares? If on the other hand there is a greater extraction then this will of course change the result.  A different taste noless.

Hence when i arrive for a coffee the first thing i look for is who is the barista driving the machine then I order the cofffee.

5 minutes later i'm checking emails and sipping on a great brew.  So what is all the controversy over tamp pressure?

If necessary it would be very simple to build a machine to give the pressure one needed, adjustable at that, so that the same personal pressure can be applied every time.  It is possible that there are such machines out there hence my request for pics and a supplier.  If not then maybe i'll retire and make them.

When does this journey stop?

It keeps the grey cells active and that's for sure.

Kualityman wrote on Jun 29^th, 2006, 8:29pm:


This is such an interesting area to experiment in....A friend once told me that Giancarlo Giusti of Grinders never used to tamp- just simply fill the basket and lock in and run....So I tried it....

What I found is that if I load consistently the effect of no tamp versus 30kg (i.e over the top tamp) amounts to no more than 1/2 notch on a standard commercial grinder to maintain a consistent, high quality pour....

I still tamp and teach 15kg, but I think that accuracy and repeatability of dose is way more important...

Try it...you may be surprised

Chris

Remember espresso is just someone's idea of how coffee should be so don't be afraid to experiment to get your coffee to your own taste.

A light tamp is becoming common in places like Italy evidently, just enough to get most of the air out of the coffee and make it pour properly.

I probably use the standard pressure but I know people here too who tamp lightly.

People also have their ideas on volumes to use.  Most CSers tend to ristrettos but a lot of people use higher than standard volumes.

Grant

Hi Soupy,

Agreed. The first tamper I made was a replacement for the built-in tamper on the Quaha / Imat / Mokita / Nemox range. On the (now defunct) page for that tamper I wrote the following comments at the time which correlate with your point 1) and 3): "...since these require the user to tamp in an upwards direction (against gravity), experience has shown it to be more difficult to exert the same tamping force as can be achieved with the Deluxe model and at the same level of consistency." These of course were fitted which removed your point 2) as an issue though in almost every other case they're not. By contrast and again in correlation with your last comment, on the page about the Deluxe tamper I wrote: "Tamping by hand allows you to exert a high tamp pressure because you're working with gravity and putting your body weight and shoulder muscles behind the tamp."

So I think we're reading from the same page here!

Greg