Espresso Tampers & Mats

Espresso Tamping is a step in espresso preparation often neglected. The aim of tamping is to create a flat even pellet of coffee through which the hot water from the espresso machine will penetrate.

Espresso Tamping is necessary because the brew water is under major pressure (9 times the weight of gravity) and will find the path of least resistance through the coffee. If it does find channels that are easy to get through it will rush through these areas, over extracting the coffee surrounding the channels and under extracting the coffee in the channels. What flavour does get into the cup is bitter and astringent, and so much of the coffees potential good flavours remain behind in the filter basket. With firm and even tamping, the water has no choice but to flow through all of the coffee uniformly, and the resulting espresso beverage represents the best the coffee has to offer.