Questions tagged [tamping]

A step in the espresso brewing process where pressure is forced upon ground coffee to form a tightly compacted puck in the portafilter basket.

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How do I know how hard to tamp my coffee?

For someone without an expensive machine that can regulate the pressure when tamping, how can I know how hard to tamp, and if I'm tamping too hard? I make espresso with a counter-top machine, and I tamp with a hand-held tamper like this: Should I…
fredley
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Can my tamping method damage the basket or portafilter?

I have developed the following tamping method: press the grinds with the tamper without much force, to smoothen it leave the tamper in the basket holding the tamper and the portafilter together, whack the silicone tamping mat with the portafilter…
quant_dev
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