I spent an hour today using a bottomless portafilter to try and improve my dosing technique. I was using some supermarket coffee as I didnt want to waste any of my home roast. I found the coffee clumped more than fresh coffee and it was actually very hard to get the coffee to come out in a single stream in the middle although I got better by the end of it.
I then switched over to some fresh beans. All the shots I pulled with the fresh beans looked like it was coming out better, even when I intentionally dosed/tamped it badly.
Im not sure now whether it is better or worse to practice dosing/tamping etc with stale coffee... Is it better because its easier to see the flaws, or worse because its nothing like fresh coffee?
Also I noticed with either beans that the stream was often not actually in the center but a bit closer to the handle. Would this be due to uneven tamping?
I then switched over to some fresh beans. All the shots I pulled with the fresh beans looked like it was coming out better, even when I intentionally dosed/tamped it badly.
Im not sure now whether it is better or worse to practice dosing/tamping etc with stale coffee... Is it better because its easier to see the flaws, or worse because its nothing like fresh coffee?
Also I noticed with either beans that the stream was often not actually in the center but a bit closer to the handle. Would this be due to uneven tamping?
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