# La Marzocco Basket 17g and Cherub = ?



## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Hey all, : )

Following on from another thread where I bought a new bottomless portafilter for my Cherub but the included baskets from the Cherub didn't seem to fit it properly.

They do fit without the spring so I was looking at a different spring such as this:

http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/portafilter-spring/p180

to see if it will help make my standard double fit the bottomless PF, I thought I'd might try and upgrade to a VST style basket for the bottomless at the same time....

Which brought me to the La Marzocco Basket 17g from Coffeehit.

I normally weight out 18g of beans for my standard double basket, but guess the 17g will be ok for 18g of beans...

has anybody tried this basket with a Cherub at all, worth it???









Thanks, Thomas.


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

I use a 17g LM Strada on the stock Fracino PF with and without the spring.

Works perfectly.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Fantastic, improvement of the default basket?

When you knock the puck out in to the knock box does the basket want to fall out along with it, ie is it REALLY Loose?


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

I don't use the spring because I like to weight the basket. When i've pulled the shot I lift the basket out and tap it against my compost bin.

It falls out after some persuasion usually in one whole puck.

If you kept the PF spring in it would knock out easily.

If you're looking to buy a LM Strada basket you could ask Peter at Madebyknock. He might try and sell you a tamper as well though.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

yeah, already got a tamper


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Is there any major difference between these and a VST basket that you're aware of?


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

None except the print on the side of the basket. Is your tamper 58.35mm? Peter can hook you up with one that fits the strada basket perfectly.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Ooooh cool. I just have a 58m Motta Tampa currently working well with the default basket though!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

The LM Strada/VST baskets are great although can be quite unforgiving. Most people try to go for a perfectly fitting tamper with these baskets because the baskets are pretty expensive so spending more on a correctly fitting tamper seems worthwhile to get the very best from them. Also, because the baskets are precision engineered every basket is exactly the same size, accurate to 0.05mm (or something silly small like that) which means you can buy the tamper confident it will perfectly fit.

VST and LM collaborated on the research and design of the basket but they chose to produce and sell them independently under their own brands. The technology and design is the same on both though.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Cool - thanks for the info guys I'll check that out and report back


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

Cool, I have VST 15g and 18g which are the same as the LM Strada 14g and 17g. You may want to look at ridgeless versions of the baskets (if LM do them) as they are easier to get in and out especially if you have a stiff portafilter spring. The VST baskets are usually recommended for use with doses +/-1g of the stated dose e.g. the 18g basket should be used with 17-19g. In practice however, I find with the Cherub the shower screen protrudes quite far into the basket and so I cannot fit 19g.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Awesome thanks for that info! I'll have a look for a ridgeless one.


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

If you don't mind second hand, I have a ridgeless 15g VST that I'd be willing to sell. It hasn't seen much use.


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## huw (Sep 13, 2012)

jimbow said:


> Also, because the baskets are precision engineered every basket is exactly the same size, accurate to 0.05mm (or something silly small like that) which means you can buy the tamper confident it will perfectly fit.


I'm not convinced that's true. I haven't seen any claims for the precision of the basket dimensions - just the hole sizes. My madebyknock 58.35mm tamper is certainly a much tighter fit in my VST 15g basket than in my 18g basket (both ridged) and the 15g one comes out of the portafilter much easier than the 18g one.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Ordered the Strada 17g from Coffeehit today should be here next week.

I also ordered a new spring so we'll see if that sorted the issue of the bottomless portafilter not quite locking in to the group head.


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## thomss (May 9, 2011)

Yep, the spring fixed the issue totally and the La Marzocco 17g basket arrived and I'm pretty sure I can taste a difference the dark fruit flavours this morning really punched thru more on Hasbeen's Blake.

I've had 4 bags of coffee arrive from Coffeebeanshop a few days ago which have been resting - I'll be starting them over the weekend once I've finished a bag from Rave coffee.

Looking forward to it


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

Glad to hear the lighter spring worked and are enjoying the LM basket!


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