Getting Your Tamp Right!
Getting your ‘tamp’ right is hugely important in extracting a consistent espresso shot, but is pressure or force more important?
When we extract an espresso, hot water is forced through the coffee grinds at high pressure and will always find the path of least resistance. Therefore its crucial that grounds are consistently tamped to achieve a good extraction.
It was once thought that pressure was the most important metric in achieving this, however an even tap will ensure all the coffee flavours are soaked up before exiting out of the grouphead spout.
How to get a decent tamp
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Grind your coffee into your group handle and make sure the coffee grinds are evenly spread. We recommend 18.5g of ground coffee for our Ranmore Espresso.
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Spread the grounds out so that they are level with the top of the handle’s basket.
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Ensure you are tamping evening - best practice is to stand square with the portafilter next to your hip.
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Apply a light amount of pressure to form a puck shape, give it a bit more force and press heavily down to remove any obvious spaces between the grinds.
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IMPORTANT - rotate the tamper to ensure the coffee grounds are evenly distributed with no coffee on the sides of the portafilter.
If you’re a retailer looking for espresso training or a Sage espresso machine owner looking for soome home tamp tips, please get in touch or call in:
dan@chimneyfirecoffee.com
01483 664154
