i need to receive confirmation, but i would hope to be in a position to start filling back orders late next week
thank you for your patience, i know some of you have been waiting a while
to recap, it is still a flat faced tamper. Â i have added a taper to the sides to facilitate nutating
nutating is not required on the tapered baskets that we supply with the machine, however it is enormously helpful when you are using straight sided baskets as it allows you to drive the coffee into the tight radius between the bottom and sides of the basket that a basket with vertical sides will typically have
if you dont drive the coffee into the tight radius around the entire perimeter of the basket you will experience channelling as the water will always take the path of least resistance and roar through this cavity as soon as it discovers it, rather than flow at an even rate across the entire surface of the puck so the solubles are taken evenly from all the grounds in the puck – achieving this is what gives you a great taste in the cup!
i doubt many of you need me to explain that channelling produces an unpleasant, under-extracted shot at best, accompanied by spitzers (spraying coffee around your kitchen) at worst: nutating greatly reduces the likelihood of this occurring
the tapered sides have the incidential benefit that the coffee no longer binds on the side of the tamper, making it easier to tamp and ensuring the sides of the tamper are not scratched by the coffee
we have changed from solid brass to solid stainless as we had issues with tampers arriving with customers in a tarnished condition; no such issue with polished stainless
when nutating even less downward pressure is required on the tamper, as the nutating action is a similar effect on the grounds as waves on a beach – the rotating force causes the grounds to be driven around in a circle, with the grounds rolling over each other and occuppying any space they can find between each other. Â if you nutate and exert too much downward force you will choke the shot, so start lightly
i regard nutating as preferrable to tapping the basket – tapping will mark your gear and has a tendency to cause the grounds to separate by weight and size if you tap too many times
reiss.