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WHAT IS A COFFEE TAMPER AND WHY IS
TAMPING IMPORTANT?
• A coffee Tamper is used to ensure that the coffee grounds in the basket are evenly
distributed and compacted in a compressed cake.
• Along with grind size and weight of coffee, tamping is used to control the extraction time.
The tighter you compact the coffee cake, the longer the extraction.
• The compressed cake forces the water to flow evenly through it, slow enough to pick up all
the flavours needed for a perfect espresso.
• If the cake is not compressed, water will flow through the less dense areas or gaps in the
grinds, resulting in a weak, flavourless expresso.
KNOWING YOUR
DUALIT TAMPER
HANDLE
LEVELLING GUIDE
TAMPING PLATE
BASKET- NORMALLY IN SINGLE
AND DOUBLE CUP VERSIONS
PORTAFILTER
4
HANDLE
Your Dualit Tamper has an
adjustable tamp pressure that helps
change the amount of compaction
of the coffee cake. This can be
used to fine tune your extraction
time.
MOULDED
+ TAMPING =
GROUNDS
LEVELLING GUIDE
The Tamper is spring-loaded to
prevent over tamping and ensure
that the thickness of the coffee is
consistent and the surface level.
This is essential to prevent the
water finding the easiest path
through the thin area of the coffee
cake, resulting in weak, flavourless
espresso.
HEADROOM
The headroom of your coffee is the distance between the
tamped coffee and the brewhead of your coffee machine. If it
is too low the water will sit on the coffee surface, creating a
wet puck (hard to clean!) and poor extraction. If the headroom
is too small, the water will not properly penetrate the coffee.
Please note: if you are using a double walled filter cup
then you will always get a wet puck after extraction.
TAMPING PLATE
The business end of the tamper,
the part that comes into contact
with the coffee cake and creates a
smooth flat surface.
HIGH DENSITY
AREA
B R E W H E A D
H E A D R O O M
C O F F E E
MOULDED
+ TAMPING =
HIGH DENSITY
GROUNDS
AREA
Your tamper's guide ensures it will
always tamp the coffee to the correct
headroom. However, this will not work
if you are using too much or too little
coffee in your basket.
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