Coffe tamper

[wolf creek knives]

Does anyone here know where I can get my hands on a 58mm coffee tamper? Niles bottle stoppers only go to 53mm. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[monophoto]

Niche question!

About ten years ago, I shopped around and found two suppliers of stainless steel coffee tamper bases - one in British Columbia and the other in the Seattle area. Both were specialty machine shops that essentially made them to order in whatever diameter you specified. I eventually opted to purchase my tamper base from the folks in Seattle to avoid the hassle of international shipping. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name of the company. All I recall is that I ordered it, it came, and I turned a handle that I'm still using (as recently as this morning).

By the way, there are actually four design options to choose from - flat bottom, convex bottom, serrated bottom, and rippled bottom. Most people seem to prefer flat bottom tampers.

On thing that I recall is that you want the diameter of the tamper base to be slightly less that the diameter of the portafilter. Portafilter's tend to have slightly tapered sides, so you want the tamper to fit loosely into the opening at the top of the portafilter and as far down as the standard coffee load. You definitely don't want a tamper that touches the walls of the portafilter above the fill level. As I recall, I asked for one that was about 1mm smaller than the top opening in my portafilter and it seems to work fine.

Totalexpresso.com appear to offer a selection ranging from 41mm to 58.5mm. Another suppllier seems to be myexpressoshop.com. Both seem to offer based made by Joe Frex, so it may make sense to contact Frex directly - joefrex..com. Frex appears to offer both stainless and aluminum

By the way, I think I recall seeing an article in the British WoodTurning magazine on making a coffee tamper with a wooden base - don't know why that wouldn't be an option, especially if you could choose a very hard, dense wood for the base.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Niche question!

About ten years ago, I shopped around and found two suppliers of stainless steel coffee tamper bases - one in British Columbia and the other in the Seattle area. Both were specialty machine shops that essentially made them to order in whatever diameter you specified. I eventually opted to purchase my tamper base from the folks in Seattle to avoid the hassle of international shipping. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name of the company. All I recall is that I ordered it, it came, and I turned a handle that I'm still using (as recently as this morning).

By the way, there are actually four design options to choose from - flat bottom, convex bottom, serrated bottom, and rippled bottom. Most people seem to prefer flat bottom tampers.

On thing that I recall is that you want the diameter of the tamper base to be slightly less that the diameter of the portafilter. Portafilter's tend to have slightly tapered sides, so you want the tamper to fit loosely into the opening at the top of the portafilter and as far down as the standard coffee load. You definitely don't want a tamper that touches the walls of the portafilter above the fill level. As I recall, I asked for one that was about 1mm smaller than the top opening in my portafilter and it seems to work fine.

Totalexpresso.com appear to offer a selection ranging from 41mm to 58.5mm. Another suppllier seems to be myexpressoshop.com. Both seem to offer based made by Joe Frex, so it may make sense to contact Frex directly - joefrex..com. Frex appears to offer both stainless and aluminum

By the way, I think I recall seeing an article in the British WoodTurning magazine on making a coffee tamper with a wooden base - don't know why that wouldn't be an option, especially if you could choose a very hard, dense wood for the base.

Thanks for the info, Louie. It looks like this will solve the problem...I hope. Thanks again.

 

[dogcatcher]

I have made tampers using wood. Osage Orange, and using burls for a handle. Turn, sand, burnish the wood with no finish.

Best to have the basket to use as a guide.

 

[Fine Engineer]

Niche question!

About ten years ago, I shopped around and found two suppliers of stainless steel coffee tamper bases - one in British Columbia and the other in the Seattle area. Both were specialty machine shops that essentially made them to order in whatever diameter you specified. I eventually opted to purchase my tamper base from the folks in Seattle to avoid the hassle of international shipping. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name of the company. All I recall is that I ordered it, it came, and I turned a handle that I'm still using (as recently as this morning).

By the way, there are actually four design options to choose from - flat bottom, convex bottom, serrated bottom, and rippled bottom. Most people seem to prefer flat bottom tampers.

On thing that I recall is that you want the diameter of the tamper base to be slightly less that the diameter of the portafilter. Portafilter's tend to have slightly tapered sides, so you want the tamper to fit loosely into the opening at the top of the portafilter and as far down as the standard coffee load. You definitely don't want a tamper that touches the walls of the portafilter above the fill level. As I recall, I asked for one that was about 1mm smaller than the top opening in my portafilter and it seems to work fine.

Totalexpresso.com appear to offer a selection ranging from 41mm to 58.5mm. Another suppllier seems to be myexpressoshop.com. Both seem to offer based made by Joe Frex, so it may make sense to contact Frex directly - joefrex..com. Frex appears to offer both stainless and aluminum

By the way, I think I recall seeing an article in the British WoodTurning magazine on making a coffee tamper with a wooden base - don't know why that wouldn't be an option, especially if you could choose a very hard, dense wood for the base.

I think both of those websites should be 'espresso' instead of 'expresso'.

 

[monophoto]

I think both of those websites should be 'espresso' instead of 'espresso'.

I can drink it, but I can't spell it.

 

[Mach4]

When I made tampers I used two techniques. First I got some stainless round stock and turned the tamper head on the metal lathe. This works, but stainless work hardens pretty easily and is a pain to deal with.

The simpler way is to just get a tamper off Amazon, throw away the handle and make your own. This is pretty cost effective and very simple.