Espresso Tamping Pressure | Does it Matter??

Tamping espresso is one of the most simple, but often most confusing parts of espresso preparation for beginners just learning to dial in their shots. How hard should you tamp? Is 25lbs the magic number? What if you tamp harder? How consistent do you need to be with the tamping pressure from shot to shot? Today, we use the Decent DE1PRO and the Cinoart PT2 to find out exactly that! By the end of this, you should understand how hard to tamp espresso.

#espresso #coffee #barista

Filming Setup

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0:00 - Intro
0:32 - With Pre-Infusion
2:05 - Tamping Explanation
3:08 - Without Pre-Infusion
4:23 - Summary

[Bernard-py]

Just watched this today. Finally, I undertand tamping. Brilliant discourse. I'm going to save this one and rewatch everytime I think about buying a Force Tamper or Puqpress. A decent self leveling tamper should suffice for most of us unless you got a loota cash. Thank you!!!

[macmutant]

What a great video! This and the shot timing video are very helpful for considering equipment and workflow as a less-experienced home barista. Thank you!

[dumkopf]

An old friend of mine summed it up nicely: Push until the coffee pushes back.

i.e. it doesn't matter what force you use so long as you feel that push back.

[louisd]

Very interesting observations! As for me I currently use a calibrated tamper to reduce as many variables as possible.

[chucklemasters]

videos like this one and some experimenting on your own machine are the keys to figuring this home espresso thing out. just don't get stuck on one setting or grind or tamping method. play around a bit and you learn a lot even if you have to dump some down the drain while you learned what NOT to do. i've been roasting at home since 2000. there is just as much to learn about that as there is about extraction methods. sure is a lot of fun though!

[glock]

Decent is an astonishingly great machine.

[purplemonkeyelephant]

I came to this video because sometimes my shots are fine and sometimes they drip, despite what I would think was similar puck prep. I figured I was over-tamping sometimes, but now I'm wondering if the grind is too fine or whether my cheaper machine just isn't producing consistent pressure from the pump.

[naamheenanamikus]

This was very useful. I am new into espresso, and I am glad to know what I should be focussing on while tamping.

[BoogieD]

I do like your findings, but there is one thing that should be mentioned from a physics point of view. You explained nicely what is 9 bars or 130psi- those are both units of pressure, so force per area. Then you directly change to pounds of pressure, whereas you should say pounds of force.If you are pushing down the tamper with a specific force, the pressure is different depending on the size of the basket (for eg. 58 vs 51mm basket will have a difference of about 30%).

[mario]

Thanks for answering that one as scientifically as you can

[WesternExpanses]

Great video. Good technical rigor.

I had always wondered.
Thank you.

[lucatonipeperoni]

Ate my lunch watching this video. Now time for some good espresso :)

[annw-fitz]

What I hoped was covered because I’m a novice is how do you know how much pressure you are applying if you don’t have an expensive machine to tamp your coffee?

[reantan]

such great video, but does that mean its better to leave out preinfusion? or preinfusion is better without high pressure tamping if it was going to be incorporated? anyways thanks for a great video

[chucklemasters]

the ECM machine i just got came with a naked portafilter (bottomless) had a lot of trouble getting the grind fine enough to get any pressure. went to the regular portafilter and had way too much pressure. am very happy with the regular portafilter and the ECM machine. also love my coffee distribution tool. don't even use the tamper any more, don't need it.

[garnettbrown]

How did the coffee taste with the different tamping pressures?

[ColinBester]

If tamp pressure doesn't matter then how come with keeping consistent expresso grind (using flair royal manual grinder) I can drastically change my extraction flow rate from real fast to nothing at all being pushed through the grind and pressure gauge maxing out way above 9 bar. There is a difference in not being fixated on exact pressure and being consistent stating tamp pressure can't be too much (I'm talking in general here and not specifically about this video)

[MrJusmobile]

Believe it or not the only variable which when removed showed any recognizable difference in the shot was the I know it's hard to believe!!

[RS-sczr]

Italians cafe just give a quick press before extraction

[icewolfy]

What if pre-infusion was configured to hit 9 bar in the first second, then slow down and then again increase pressure to 9 bar? Hmm!