Not a lot of people will know this but a coffee tamper is an essential piece of equipment to make a good espresso, and a good espresso will lead to a great cup of Cappuccino, Latte and Mocha.
First you need a roaster to roast the green coffee beans, that's right coffee beans are green before they are roasted. The fresher the beans the better the coffee and you can not get any fresher than roasting your own.
Second comes the grinder and no ordinary grinder it has to be a burr grinder as no other will do. Coffee looses its quality within hours of grinding so best to grind just before
making the espresso.
Fourth you need the 15bar pump driven coffee machine this pushes the water through the ground coffee at high-pressure and for the perfect espresso the water should take between 23 and 27 seconds to pass through the ground coffee.
Your probably thinking what happened to the third part, well that's were the tamper comes in. The ground coffee needs to be tamped into the portafilter basket. Usually you tamp 7 grams of ground coffee for each 2oz shot of espresso. I have a single and double portafilter basket so the single holds 7 grams and the double holds 14 grams of ground coffee. Most of the time i use the double as its easier and the wife likes the cappuccino i make better than the coffee shops so the double makes an espresso for me and the espresso for the base of her cappuccino.
Coffee machines are not all standard and some machines have different sized portafilters than others so you need to find out the correct diameter before you buy your tamper as an ill fitting tamper will make it awkward to tamp your ground coffee.
Cost :- My Gaggia Classic that i wrote a review on has a 58 cm diameter portafilter this is a commercial size one, normally home machines have the 53 cm portafilter.. The plastic tamper that came with the machine was OK but did not seem sturdy enough, so started shopping around for a new one. Prices varied hugely from £5 up to a staggering £60. Just as i picked the one i like Christmas arrived and guess what, my daughter had bought me the Whittard of Chelsea Stainless Steel Tamper and at the bargain price of £5.
Tamper :- The tamper is shiny stainless steel, it does show up finger prints and marks a lot but with it only being a small item it is easily cleaned. Some surface scratches have appeared on the tamper heads but these are only superficial and have not affected performance. The weight is 125 grammes and the height is 6.5 cm It has 2 tamper heads one a 53 cm and the other 58 cm so will suit most portafilters. On the smaller head is a stamp mark, "Whittard of Chelsea established 1886 and the web address Whittard of Chelsea.com." Some tamper heads are flat and others have a convex surface, the whittard has the convex. The traditional tampers were flat but convex are becoming the more preferred tamper as it seems to stop channeling in the coffee as the water passes through the coffee grind whereas you want the water to distribute evenly through the ground coffee.
Tamping :- So how do you tamp, once you have the required amount of ground coffee in the portafilter press down lightly with the tamper to make it level, with the whittard this is made easy as the you can press down evenly with the other end in the palm of your hand. Once this is done you need to tamper with more force so the water does not pass through the ground coffee to fast for weaker coffee or to slow making a bitter coffee. Ideally about 30lbs of pressure should be applied this takes practice, i used bathroom scales to learn roughly how hard to press. When finished the ground coffee should look flat and even in the portafilter. Because you can press down with the palm of your hand the whittard is good for people with arthritis as you do not need to grip a handle like some tampers. with it being shiny the coffee does not stick to the tamper head like on my old plastic tamper.
So now the tamping is finished put the portafilter into the coffee machine. If every process was done correctly it should take about 23-26 seconds to make a 2 oz shot of espresso and it should have a dark crema on top of the espresso, this is the foamy bit.
Conclusion :- The Whittard should stand the test of time, it seems sturdy, it is prone to scratches but this does not seem a problem. Cleans easy, does the job that it is meant to do, whether a £60 one will do a better job i am not willing to find out at that price. With the results i am getting i am well pleased and would recommend this tamper to anyone who appreciates the skill and time it takes to make an excellent espresso.
Pictures of Whittard of Chelsea Stailess steel Tamper
Tamper and portafilter
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