Free Delivery On Any Order Over $150 for Perth Metro
  • My Cart
      was successfully added to your cart.
Sign in or Join now
Yahava KoffeeYahava KoffeeYahava KoffeeYahava Koffee
Menu
  • Home
  • Shop
      • Shop Coffee Beans from YahavaKoffee
      • Shop Yahava's Masala Chai Black Tea online across Australia or in a Perth KoffeeworksTea
      • Shop Yahava's Chokolat Koffee: milk chocolate beans online across Australia or in a Perth KoffeeworksChokolat
      • Yahava's delicious range of Essences and Elixirs are available to shop online or in a one of our Perth KoffeeworksIced Koffee + Flavoured Essences
      • Shop at Yahava for the Bodum Pour Over Coffee Maker online across Australia or at a Koffeeworks in PerthAccessories & Brewing Equipment
      • gift card at YahavaGift Cards
    • Close
  • Find a Store
  • Explore Yahava
    • Explore Yahava
    • KoffeeWorks
    • Kwik Koffee
    • Wholesale Koffee
    • Koffee Academy
    • Mobile Koffee
    • Koffee Safari
    • Yahava Franchise
    • Close
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Close

Distribution and Tamping

    Home Home Blog Klassroom Distribution and Tamping
    NextPrevious
    process of tamping coffee beans

    Distribution and Tamping

    By Gary Sawyer | Klassroom | Comments are Closed | 21 June, 2019 | 0

    When we are brewing espresso, there is one thing we are working hard to maintain at all times – making sure that when we extract our coffee, the water is running evenly through the whole coffee puck. If we don’t achieve this – the water channels through part of the puck, causing overextraction to that section of the coffee puck and underextraction to the rest of the coffee. The result in the cup is a confused flavour – both sour and bitter.

    Two main steps in the Espresso making process control how evenly the water runs through the puck. The first is one which is often overlooked by baristas – distribution. The second is one most are more familiar with – tamping. Let’s break down these steps to make sure your puck preparation is in top order.

     

    Distribution

    Distribution is the act of making sure the coffee grounds are sitting evenly in the basket, before we go to tamp. Depending on your grinder, this can be easy or hard to orchestrate. Electronic grinders with a funnel help guide the coffee into the middle of the portafilter, and it will naturally disperse pretty evenly as it falls into the basket from here. In this case, gently tapping the side of the portafilter with the palm of your hand after the coffee has dosed will help settle the coffee pile evenly.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    If you have a grinder with a dosing chamber, getting even distribution can be a little more tricky. As we’re moving the dosing lever, position your portafilter so that the basket is sitting directly under where the coffee falls out of the dosing chamber. If coffee falls to one side of the basket, reposition your basket so that you can fill the other side with a similar amount of coffee. Also, try and keep the dosing lever moving as the coffee is grinding, so that you’re dosing smaller amounts of coffee at a time. If you allow the coffee to build up in one section of the dosing chamber, all of a sudden a big clump will fall into the portafilter all at once, making it hard to distribute. Once you have the correct dose in your portafilter, use the hand tapping method to settle the coffee evenly once again. If you’ve got more coffee in one side of the basket than the other, you can tilt your portafilter in the opposite direction while you tap, which will help even out the coffee puck.

    We want the coffee sitting fairly evenly in the portafilter before we go to tamp. The other thing to be wary of when it comes to distribution is the density of the coffee in the portafilter. Uneven density will cause the water to channel down the less dense side of the puck, again leading to uneven extraction. If you evenly distribute your coffee, it makes it a lot easier to tamp down nice and straight.

     

    Tamping

    Once we have nice even distribution of our coffee, the next step is to tamp the coffee down. For starters – a quality tamper with the right size for your basket will help you to get an even tamp.

     

     

    When tamping, it is important to position your body in such a way that you are using your whole arm for leverage when placing pressure on the puck. This will avoid putting strain on your wrist, which will hurt very quickly if you tamp with just your hand.

     

     

     

     

     

    Firstly, sit your tamper on the coffee grounds in the portafilter, and use your thumb and index finger to adjust the tamper in relation to the edge of the basket, to make sure the tamper is level.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    After this, move your fingers around the tamper handle, and push down steadily on the coffee. The moment you notice that the coffee isn’t compressing further under normal pressure, you have tamped enough. The most important part of tamping is compacting the coffee bed in a nice, even way, not how hard you compact the coffee. The pressure of the coffee machine will be much more than you can force the coffee down with your tamper!

     

     

     

     

     

    Tamping and Distribution are crucial to good Espresso extraction.

    Master these, and you’ll be well on your way to brewing consistently great Yahava koffee.

     

    If you live near one of our stores – you can book in to our Barista Induction course to get some practical experience on the Espresso Machine. Read more about our locations. 

    espresso distribution, espresso extraction, espresso tamping, even extraction, puck preparation

    Gary Sawyer

    More posts by Gary Sawyer

    Related Posts

    • Yahava's 'Treading Lightly' program is dedicated to sustainability

      Treading Lightly

      By Yahava Basecamp | 0 comment

      Aminoacido que ayuda a extender los vasos sanguineos y se trata de una sociedad que fue constituida en septiembre de 2003 por Diego Pellegrini. Sin embargo, en España no es habitual ver estos hashtags, informacionRead more

    • Deliciously poured flat white coffee with silky milk and latte art. Learn how to brew Perth's best coffee with Yahava.

      Texturing Silky Milk

      By Gary Sawyer | 0 comment

      Australia loves milk coffee! Even in our KoffeeWorks – where we attract the most discerning coffee drinkers – Flat Whites, Lattes and Cappuccinos make up 90% of the orders going through our cafe tills. It’sRead more

    • painting of forest with trees and waterfall

      Searching for Elephants

      By Alastair Ingram | 0 comment

      A sojourn into Southern India Sunday, 29th January 2012 A 3:30am wakeup call quickly erased all the romantic notions I held of this, our first trip to origin. Where we were headed would be coolerRead more

    • coffee extract pouring from the coffee machine to a mug

      Espresso Terms Explained

      By Gary Sawyer | 0 comment

      The world of Espresso brings with it a number of interesting terms – which can be baffling to the aspiring home barista. The aim of this post is to list common Espresso terms, and whatRead more

    • Guests sipping free coffee tastings at Yahava Koffee Academy

      Tasting Bench

      By Alastair Ingram | 0 comment

      Welcome to the Tasting Benches Falls Sie jedoch eines der angegebenen Symptome bemerkt, Hilfeseite ist also das ideale Potenzmittel für die Frau. Die Wirkung setzt in der Regel 15 Minuten nach der Einnahme ein oderRead more

    • Franchise Yahava Koffee Works today

      The Koffee Academy

      By Alastair Ingram | 0 comment

      Welcome to the Academy Learn from the best. You need never drink another bad coffee ever! We can teach you exactly how to make a great coffee every time. Our top baristas are real keenRead more

    • Perth's best coffee being roasted at Yahava

      The Roastery

      By Alastair Ingram | 0 comment

      Learn about Dark Arts Watch our roasting wizards transform green beans into the gorgeous chocolate coloured coffees we so love. Roasting is as much an art is it is a science. Each roast is conductedRead more

    • Filter paper & coffee beans. Learn how to brew filter coffee with Yahava.

      How to brew: V60

      By Gary Sawyer | Comments are Closed

      The V60 is one of the most used filter methods out there. It uses a pour-over style of brewing where water is poured on top of the coffee bed, making its way through and extractingRead more

    • men and women posing for a photo in Yahava coffee brewery

      Sweet, Sour and Salt: An exploration into our senses.

      By Gary Sawyer | Comments are Closed

      This week we had the pleasure of doing some palate training with David Boudrie of FTA Coffee. He put a group of us at the Swan Valley store through a mock test which is partRead more

    • men sifting nuts

      The ECX, transparency and traceability.

      By Gary Sawyer | Comments are Closed

      Ethiopia: The birthplace of coffee, and ultimately the country responsible for the dissemination of Arabica coffee all over the world, that we drink on a daily basis. Ethiopia is the only country where Arabica coffeeRead more

    • Shop Yahava for coffee brewing equipment in Perth

      Brew Method Adventure Guide

      By Gary Sawyer | Comments are Closed

      One of our favourite things about Koffee is that there are so many different ways to brew it, each brew method with its own positives and negatives. Check out your brew method below for someRead more

    • coffee extract pouring from the coffee machine to a mug

      6 Simple Tips for Making Better Coffee on Your Coffee Machine at Home

      By Gary Sawyer | Comments are Closed

      Getting the most out of your coffee can seem like a big task. You might find that sometimes you get a cup of delicious coffee, and yet other times you’re left wondering what went wrong.Read more

    NextPrevious
    • Home
    • Shop
      • Koffee
      • Tea
      • Chokolat
      • Iced Koffee + Flavoured Essences
      • Accessories & Brewing Equipment
      • Gift Cards
    • Find a Store
    • Explore Yahava
      • Explore Yahava
      • KoffeeWorks
      • Kwik Koffee
      • Wholesale Koffee
      • Koffee Academy
      • Mobile Koffee
      • Koffee Safari
      • Yahava Franchise
    • Blog
    • Contact Us
    • Search
      • [Custom]
    Yahava Koffee
    Yahava Koffeeworks logo with transparent background

    Adventure In A Cup.
    © 2021 Yahava KoffeeWorks.

    Privacy Policy
    Shipping & Delivery
    Contact Us

    Shop Yahava

    View our range of Koffees, Teas, Chokolats and Essences.
     

    Koffee + Subscriptions
    Teas
    Chokolat
    Iced Koffee + Flavoured Essences
    Accessories + Brewing Equipment
    Gift Cards

    About Yahava
    Discover the history of Yahava, and join the movement.

    Yahava Franchise
    Kwik Koffee
    Wholesale Koffee
    Koffee Academy
    Mobile Koffee

    Signup To Our Newsletter
    Keep up to date with all the Koffee news.

    Copyright 2021 | Website by Start Digital