im ashamed to admit that im always been amused when i have read people proscribing a certain value for tamping pressure as the road to espresso nirvana
perhaps that is a little mean spirited of me, but i dont see how the oft referenced thirty pounds of tamping pressure can solve much for a beginner who is struggling to get something resembling espresso to flow from their machine
im very much of the view that learning to make espresso is much more akin to learning to ride a bicycle than learning to bake a cake
anyway, a combination of curiousity and boredom got the better of me just now and pulled out the kitchen scales to see what sort of weight they registered when i tamped down on them
averaging it over three shot preps it turns out the number is between 3 and 3.5 kilos
im not sure if that is of any use to anyone, but now you have a number
that was for an 18g dose into an 18g ridgeless VST basket