The great portafilter debate...
has raged for as long as I can remember. Or at least as long as I've been in the specialty coffee industry. Which is a paltry four years. Yet, I've had my love affair with the bottomless portafilter. It was just a fling though. It was short, passionate, and messy. It splattered and splashed all over my cup, tended to be a bit colder straight out of the gate, and just felt a bit thinner in flavor. It does make great training wheels for your tamp, distribution, and handling though. But in the end it was one of those breakups that felt like a weight had been lifted more so than being sad.
The spouted portafilter, was just that gem that was hidden in plain sight. As I progressed in my coffee career and experience I noticed I tended to use it more and more. Recommending it more to customers who bought equipment from me, and just generally being a big proponent of the spouted. I don't want to spoil the video for you, but here are the bullet points. Spouted portafilters are cleaner, more temperature stable, and make coffee taste better.
February 26, 2020
[…] consistency. But also see the difference distribution makes, and yes, I even took out the bottomless portafilter for that test. I'd hate to spoil the entire video for you, but I will say it works pretty well. […]