# I'm almost afraid to ask advice about tampers and steam wands but I will



## kah22 (Nov 27, 2010)

You guys seem to know your coffee machines pretty well and all the gear that goes with it. I'm almost afraid to ask what might sound like a basic maybe even silly question. But hell it's Christmas so you'll probably go easy on me.

Two questions really. The first is about steam wands, the second about tampers.

I recently bough a black De'Longhi Icona coffee machine and my one gripe with it is the steam wand. I find it a little two short and wonder if there is an alternative wand I could use. One that would come away a bit from the actual machine and perhaps be a bit longer. My reason for seeking one a bit longer is that I normally only make single cups of coffee at at time and the supplied wand just won't fit into my steam jug and I haven't really been able to find a good 4 1/2 or 5 inch jug locally.

My second question is, I suppose more a matter of taste, tampers wooden or metal. Looking around the forum would seem to suggest it's all a matter of preference.

And one final question. Any good online suppliers you might like to recommend


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Welcome to Coffee Forums UK

Thanks for takign the hardest step and posting

You'll find we are a friendly helpful bunch and the questions you ask are perfectly fine









The best jug for a short steam wand would be a 12oz jug from a reputable online supplier such as CoffeeHit, Espresso Products, Happy Donkey

For tampers, go for a fairly heavy based one, that will do most of the work for you (helping level by itself - whereas a lighter tamper requires more guidance)

There are an infinite number of styles from £14 entry-level tampers to the mid-range £28 tampers and then the £50 Reg Barber tampers

The 2 that I use currently are a 58mm Copper Based Reg Barber tamper that I purchased from Hasbean a few years ago and the 58mm Pro-Tamp tamper from Espresso Products

Hopefully this is of use, and I am sure that others will share their tamper preferences too

Good luck in deciding


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## coffeeman (Mar 20, 2010)

Welcome to the forums, well done on your first post and there are no stupid questions. I regularly ask many that I think are simple but no-one knows everything.

I have a de'longhi knocking around also and I agree the steam wands do seem to be a really bad design on de'longhi's part.

I personally like motta tampers but my word of advise would be to make sure you check the basket size. The de'longhi I have has a really small basket so I had to buy a pretty cheap and in-affective one. I agree with Glenn though in that metal based tampers are the best ones.


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