Using the tapered LONDINIUM button tamper

Reiss Gunson

i read on another forum of a guy struggling with his LONDINIUM tamper, so i will provide some guidance

like any tool, there is more than one way to use it, but the way i am using it at the moment is this

1. dose into the centre of the portafilter, creating a single, central cone of ground coffee

2. use the edge of the tamper as you might a knife to dig and carry the coffee in the central cone out to the perimeter of the basket to level the coffee off - the aggressive taper makes it very good for this - almost giving it a spade like function. take care not to compress the coffee whilst doing this

3. now if you are using a deep, straight sided basket its time to nutate. the trick here is not to tilt the tamper over too far - about 10 degrees is enough and secondly, do it lightly! minimal downward pressure and i tend to make 3 revolutions (lightly!). if you are using the stock basket you can go straight to step (4) below and skip this step (3)

4. having nutated you will now have a slightly domed mound of coffee, but the coffee in the centre is not compacted, unlike the coffee at the perimeter. push down flat with just enough pressure to flatten the coffee and you're done

does this help Peter?

must do a video clip too

Ali Al-Mutawa

push down flat with just enough pressure to flatten the coffee and you're done

Hello Reiss,

The pressure...I have no clear idea what is just enough. Is the weight of the Londinium tamper is enough? or apply a gentle pressure? I usually apply pressure until I can see the inner ring of the basket is clear.

Reiss Gunson

I'm from the school that says not everything can be broken down into a step by step set of instructions

i am very happy providing guidance, and i will do my best to persuade my wife to take a clip tomorrow of me using the tamper, but even then there is no substitute for good old fashioned trial and error

there is no substitute for just knocking out a line of shots

it isn't intellect or some secret sauce that separates home baristas from the professionals; it is simply the number of shots they pull, combined with a commitment to observe and improve based on tasting the output from the process

you need to use more than the weight of the tamper, yes, not ridiculous fairy steps tip toeing around on the coffee as if it is nitro glycerin, but just gentle pressure - less than firm

Ali Al-Mutawa

Hello Reiss,

it is clear. no need for a video.
trial and error is the best way, as you mentioned.

Unknown

Ali Al-Mutawa post=8424 wrote:

push down flat with just enough pressure to flatten the coffee and you're done

Hello Reiss,

The pressure...I have no clear idea what is just enough. Is the weight of the Londinium tamper is enough? or apply a gentle pressure? I usually apply pressure until I can see the inner ring of the basket is clear.

Use a regular tamper for the learning curve. Do not change the grinder settings and then try a tamp that is basically the weight of the tamper. Then try it with a small amount of pressure with just your thumbs. Then try it with heavier pressure that a tamper in the palm of your hand might generate. Then try a tamp using your entire arm.

You will notice different flow rates with different tamp pressures.

Once you make those observations then you can tinker with the grind settings and tamp pressures. It is a dance rather than dumping beans in one end and getting coffee out the other end, like the current range of Starbucks fully outomatic machines.

Peter Gunn

Hi Reiss,
I'll try this next time I make coffee, thanks.