What do you know about the powder press? What is the best strength of powder pressing?

I believe that every barista wants to have his or her own Tamper (or pressing powder hammer), because every time you make a cup of espresso, the coffee maker uses a powder hammer to flatten the ground coffee powder, thus increasing the extraction quality of the coffee (although there are individual practices that do not press the powder).

What's the use of the powder hammer? Why can it be so expensive? Why is there a difference between size? Why is there an one-piece pose or a split pose? Why is the base different? How do we choose the powder hammer?

1. About the role of the powder hammer:

The powder hammer has several important functions in making espresso:

The first is to press the ground coffee powder so that hot water can fully penetrate and flow through the coffee cakes.

The second is to keep the gap between the coffee powder consistent, because the coffee powder will begin to expand after absorbing water, which can easily lead to extraction imbalance.

The third is that the coffee powder in the handle is flattened to form a flat horizontal plane, so that the coffee powder can withstand the great pressure caused by the coffee machine extraction without being dispersed and affecting the taste of the extraction.

two。 Why are there different sizes of powder hammers?

In fact, there are two sizes of powder hammer, the small size is about 49mm to 53mm (4.0cm to 5.2cm), and the large size is from 57.5mm to 58.5mm (5.75cm to 58.5cm). The difference in specification is mainly due to the problems of household Italian machines and commercial coffee machines. Large powder bowls are commonly used in commercial use, and each coffee maker company has its own size, so the situation between 57.5mm and 58.5mm occurs.

General bias powder hammer manufacturers will be in 58mm, on the one hand, to facilitate production, on the other hand, the cost will be relatively low. If you ask for a more accurate size, the cost and technology will also increase, so the price will vary from dozens of yuan to 300 yuan. The powder hammer will also increase with the company brand, type of powder hammer, material, weight, design or limited edition and other influencing factors.

Well, from the above two main points, we can see that the main function of a powder press is to flatten and tamp the coffee powder. We can understand that the powder press has become a bridge between the barista and the coffee machine.

From left to right, RB ferrous metal handle 58mm flat bottom hammer bottom, RB black frosted metal handle 58mmC-Ripple hammer bottom, domestic Brazilian rosewood handle 58.2mm flat bottom hammer bottom, Pullman checkerboard handle suitable for La Marzocco powder bowl American Curve hammer bottom, German Concept-art metal adjustable pressure 58mm flat bottom hammer bottom, La Marzocco original metal handle American Curve hammer bottom, Japanese aluminum alloy handle 53mm quantitative powder press.

If you have the experience of customizing the Pullman powder press, the Pullman website will remind you what machine to use, what powder bowl, what hammer bottom to fit, you can personally choose the handle that suits you. Obviously, the bottom of the hammer should be suitable for machines and powder bowls, and the handle should be suitable for baristas.

1. About the choice of handle: the one that suits your palm is the best one as shown below.

two。 About the choice of the shape of the hammer: what about the choice of the hammer? Please look at the picture below.

In this picture, the water distribution network and the powder bowl are all flat-bottomed, so we naturally have to press the powder into a flat surface, so that the water from the watershed plane to extract the coffee powder will pass the coffee powder at a vertical and constant pressure. if we choose a powder press at the bottom of the arc, there will be too much force in the middle of the coffee powder, and the water in the plane under the watershed will flow around because of inertia to avoid the difficult area in the middle.

The following picture shows Italy IMS 22g arc bottom traceless powder bowl, Italy La Marzocco original powder press arc hammer bottom, Italy IMS adapts to La Marzocco laser water distribution network, Italy IMS adapts to La Marzocco super subdivision water network.

You can see that the powder bowl, the hammer bottom of the powder press, and the water distribution network are all curved, and they can be completely matched! It is conceivable that the water from the curved water distribution network flows out of the curved powder bowl through the coffee powder pressed into the curved surface.

After talking about the difference between arc bottom and flat bottom, that is to say, what kind of water distribution network and what kind of powder bowl the machine adapts to, we will choose what kind of powder press hammer bottom.

3. About the selection of the size of the powder press: the following is a 58mm flat-bottomed powder press hammer 53mm flat hammer bottom

As mentioned above, the question of size is determined according to the merchant, so why are there so many sizes to choose from? let's take a look at the picture in the article of WBC world champion Matt Perger:

To sum up this article: the appropriate handle accurately carries the power of the barista, passing it to the coffee powder through the bottom of different hammers to form a language to be read by the coffee machine, thus the powder press has become a bridge between the barista and the coffee machine. Making a good cup of coffee starts with taking every detail seriously.

(this article is transferred from the network)