Importance Of Tamping Coffee
Making a perfect coffee is an art. It requires great artistic skill and a lot of effort. The coffee grounds used to the final step of coffee serving, each counts.
Tamping coffee is one of the important steps in the process of coffee making. Proper tamping allows water to flow without any resistance. This pulls oil from the coffee, which helps easily extract the whole coffee flavour during brewing. When tamping is improper, water will pass through the gaps, producing flavourless coffee.
In this blog, we will be discussing the method of tamping and how it helps to convert raw coffee grounds into delicious coffee. We also guide you and provide some tips that offer great results.
What Is Tamping Coffee
Tamping coffee is the method of compressing the coffee grounds, which allows the hot water to distribute evenly during coffee brewing. Compression of the loose coffee grounds is carried out within the portafilter, where the coffee grounds and hot water come into contact during the process of brewing. The process is essential, as it handles extracting the full aroma from the coffee grounds.
Factors Influencing Tamping Coffee
The most important factors influencing tamping coffee are:
- Pressure
To carry out the compression of the coffee ground, pressure should be applied. It is to ensure that there is no gap between the loosely ground coffee. When the gap is present, water will flow through it, which marks under-extraction. This is called channelling.
The pressure should be,
- firm
- steady (use your upper body to apply pressure)
- not heavy
- not weak.
- Level
For full extraction of the coffee ground, a tamping level is important. Otherwise, coffee will not be distributed evenly, one side being shallow and the other deep. More water will be present on the shallow side as water will take the least resistance path.
Importance Of Tamping Coffee
Tamping coffee is performed to distribute the coffee ground evenly inside the portafilter to allow the easy flow of water inside it. This is necessary for the coffee and water to meet, to extract the coffee oils, providing rich, flavourful coffee. If water is not passed evenly, it will take the path of least resistance, and as a result, all the beans will not be fully used. When water comes in contact, coffee beans start to expand. Hence, tamping coffee also ensures the proper air supply between the coffee and the coffee machine.
Step By Step Guide For tamping Coffee
To achieve tamping coffee, the fresh coffee grounds are passed to the portafilter, where the following steps should be carried out:
- Distribute the coffee evenly
Distribute the coffee evenly to extract them properly.
- spread the coffee on the portafilter
- tap the portafilter with your palm or on the grinder forks to remove the excess coffee grounds on the top
- Positioning the portafilter
- Hold the handle
- keep the portafilter on a steady surface.
- Hold the tamper
- Hold the tamper in hand
- You should hold the end of the handle with your palm, while wrap the top of the base in your fingers. It should be kept at an angle of 90 degrees to ensure proper control.
- make sure to apply power from your body, rather than your wrist.
- tamper base should be dry
- no gap should be created in the compressed coffee
- Press and twist
- grab the tamper
- apply light pressure to compact the ground (15 pounds)
- wait for some time
- tamp again, apply more pressure (20-30 pounds)
- twist and polish
- Remove the tamper
- Withdraw the tamper.
- you may notice coffee grounds on the side and at the top. Wipe it off, if present.
- do not tap at the edge of the portafilter; it can cause gaps and lead to channelling.
Follow the steps properly, which helps control coffee machine maintenance.
But, an automatic tamper reduces the effort and time.
Avoid These During Tamping Coffee
Do not’s to follow during tamping coffee are:
- Tapping the basket
- causes damage to the handle and tamp.
- may lead to gaps and eventually channelling
- change in pressure
- tamping pressure should be kept consistent
- adjust the grinder to finer or coarser
- helps prevent channelling.
Features of an Automatic Coffee Tamper
To produce high-quality coffee, our coffee experts recommend you automatic coffee tampers
- Ready to use
- compatible
- customisation of the coffee tamper diameter up to 53mm
The process of tamping coffee might feel complicated, but it will be easy once you get used to it. Take your time to learn it. Get in touch with us. Browse our page for further details.
