# Thoughts on tamping



## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

I wonder how other forum contributors feel about the importance of the pressure applied in the tamp?

I can agree that theoretically the tamp needs to be the same from shot to shot in the interests of uniformity, but is the actual pressure applied really that important?

My own view is that the major purpose of the tamp must be to ensure uniform progress of the water in the puck, and to eliminate or at least minimise channels that water can flow through more easily and quickly. So the tamp makes the coffee into a solid plug, and also seals the edges against the sides of the basket.

But once that is done, and I presume that 30 lbs of pressure can do that more than adequately, does any increase or variance in the pressure actually change anything? Surely once the solid plug is formed - at whatever pressure - any increase in the pressure applied (unless it is absolutely tremendous) is going to have no difference to the density of the plug?

I look at it this way - if I take a bucket of sand and put a piece of wood on top of it and compress it by standing on it, it's going to make no difference to the density of the sand if two, or even three, people stand on top of it. It would take a power press to make any substantial difference. If this premise is true, then uniformity of tamp - provided a sealed plug is formed - becomes one of the most unimportant factors in making consistent coffee.

This is of interest to me because I've just moved from an Espro (which gives some guarantee of uniformity) to a conventional tamper, where presumably I'm getting more chance of variance between shots, but I've found no effect on either flow rate or quality of successive shots.

Anyone else got any views on this?


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

Because you have just moved from the Espro you have an awareness of the required tamp pressure. You will also have "muscle memory" embedded in your brain from using the Espro, it's a bit like learning to play music, things happen sub-consciously because the muscles have been trained.

Ian


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

Tamping has always seemed like the least important part to me... Way over rated sometimes. How coarse the coffee is and how much will make the largest difference.

I've tested this, same coarsnes, one tamped the other not, and the un-tamped one was at most about 3 seconds quicker. The pour on the un-tamped was very messy compared to the tamped one though.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

I find tension-restricted tampers great for consistency in a busy environment with a high turnover of staff where uniformity is hard to otherwise achieve.

However, given that a standard tamper offers flexibility this is my preferred option.

I don't subscribe to the theory that 1 tamp pressure fits all scenarios and vary my tamp depending on contributing factors that i would like to control.

Grind size has a large part to play and to offer true compaction some form of vibration may be required, not often achieved uniformly and may lead to channeling

The forming a plug with a standardised density (for an even extraction) fits the scenario portrayed above


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