A Nice Cuppa

Getting a great shot of espresso at home is no easy feat. There are so many different variables, from the beans, how they were roasted, the grind, the dose, the tamp and even the ambient humidity that day. A great shot from the same batch of beans may be terrible the next day if you aren’t careful in retracing your exact steps. I know from experience, I’ve tossed out more than one shot in the morning trying to reproduce the good shot from the day before.

The biggest variable from day to day, I’ve found, is my tamping. Getting exactly the same tamp, around 30lbs of pressure, is quite hard to reproduce day after day, particularly before that first shot in the morning. Frankly, even after a year of practice, I’m still not very consistent.

Enter the Espro Tamper. This little tamper, in addition to having a healthy weight and solid feel, has a trick to take the guesswork out of tamping. Hidden inside is a spring that gives with 30lbs of pressure, so as you push down, you get some resistance, and then it “gives,” letting you know exactly how hard to push. It’s a great training tool to help you develop muscle memory, but it’s also just a great tamper for everyday use and helps minimize at least one of the variables, letting you focus on getting the perfect grind and dose.

When my friend bought me one earlier this year, I liked it so much, I bought one for my other espresso machine as well. My only complaint so far is that I’m used to knocking the side of the portafilter with the tamper base to help even out the grounds, and that’s a no-no with the Espro as it might mess up the spring. It also seems to quickly mar the edge of the base, which could slightly alter your tamp, so best to stick with the no-knock recommendation.

Like any tamper, the Espro Tamper comes in a variety of sizes, and there is a great sizing chart on the Espro website. I have a Solis & a Saeco machine, both of which take the 53mm tamper, despite the note on the site that says that the 52mm may work better for the Solis. The Espro also comes in a flat and a concave version, depending on your personal preference. Like most good tampers, the Espro Tamper isn’t cheap, running about $75-90US depending on where you find it.