That time my friend's broken tamper taught me a two dollar trick

My buddy in Denver showed up to pull shots with his tamper handle snapped clean off so he used a wine cork instead. It actually gave better pressure than my fancy metal one, and now I keep a cork in my kit for when I need to tamp lighter roasts. Anybody else found weird substitutes that work better than the real thing?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_gonzalez6814d ago

Wait, are you telling me a wine cork might actually beat a 60 dollar tamper? I was totally on team "you need the heavy precision tool" until my buddy showed up with a busted tamper and shoved a cork in the basket. I laughed at first, but then the pressure was way more even than what I get with mine. It felt like the cork just molded around the coffee bed better instead of forcing it down. Now I'm wondering if all those years of buying fancy gear were just me showing off to myself.

lee.lucas14d ago

Honestly, if I see one more influencer doing a slow-mo shot of their $200 pewter tamper I'm gonna lose it. Ngl, I've been using a 20mm socket from my toolbox for a year now because my actual tamper's handle broke off. The cork thing though, that's next level genius and also kind of an insult to all of us who bought that "premium calibrated" nonsense. Tbh, the coffee doesn't care how much you spent, it just wants something to squish it flat.