# VST 20g 'competition' basket



## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Now I have had a chance to play with this basket I can present some feedback.

1. The 20g dose sits lower in the basket than 18g does in the VST 18g. Prior to noticing this my first 3 shots (at various grind settings) all produced 3 streams of liquid, I was not compressing the coffee enough with my tamp - now corrected. getting used to depressing the tamper further down the basket than with an 18g means I need to re-learn the muscle memory.

2. The pour looks different to the 18g, hard to explain but more silky , less visible crema bubbles. Strange.

3. With the same flow rate, and, extraction ratio, a shot from the 20g basket is brighter, sweeter and packs more flavour. To balance I found running a couple more grams of liquid into the cup, this didnt detract from the mouth feel. ##

##20g dose producing 32g in 30 seconds

4. The last shot of Xmas espresso blend was off the chart and way better than anything from the 18g basket.**

**18g VST . 18g dose producing 28g in 28 seconds versus

20g VST. 20g dose producing 30g in 28 seconds

5. Im happy with the results and excited to explore further........


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

Hi Gary

You are only 2g shy of what I normally use to make a triple, and I would look for an extraction time of around 32 Seconds as I have a little theory that even though there is more ground coffee presenting more surface area to the water, as the water becomes saturated with the coffee solids it becomes harder for the water to become infused, so a few seconds more gives the water more time in contact,

Its only a theory and im probably talking rubbish but it keeps me happy.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

You might also find you get a much more even extraction with the VST 20g Ridgeless Competition Filter Basket (shown on the left)

  

  

click to enlarge

The basket on the right is a Gaggia Classic standard basket

You can see there is much more surface area for the coffee to extract through, resulting in less water passing through the grounds at the bottom of the Gaggia Basket.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Two new observations :

1. The grind needs to be finer than the 18g basket by quiet some way if similar flow rate is to be achieved

2. This finer grind still results in less fines in the cup than from the 18g, hmmmm


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