PS – there is a bit where i waffle on about why you don’t want to heat the plastic handle. the crisp answer is simply that the stud protrudes from the end of the plastic handle and threads into the neck of the portafilter, so apply the heat to the neck of the portafilter, not the handle. the high thermal conductivity of the brass portafilter will carry the heat inwards to the liquid PTF on the thread very effectively, don’t worry about that. the liquid PTFE loses enough strength with the increase in temperature for you to unscrew the handle, but you need to get the hex key into the end of the handle quickly before it cools too much or you are back to square one again
