Monday, July 28, 2003


filter baskets: expobar, silvia, la marzocco

so this weekend i experimented with different filter baskets in carlos expobar to see how that affected the coffee.

i still believe carlos is basically too hot and soon i will undertake the tuning of his pressurestat to lower his temperature.

most espresso machine owners know that inside the portafilter (aka espresso handle) there is a little metal filter basket that actually holds the coffee.

the depth, hole size, hole pattern, and shape of the basket definitely affects the coffee. although i have three so-called "double shot" baskets, they are all different.

the stock silvia basket holds about 14 grams of coffee, the amount for the "classic" double espresso shot. the la marzocco basket holds more, about 16 grams; the expobar stock basket is between the two.

plus they have different depths, shapes and holes. this can be hard to visualize, so i'm going to send y'all over to coffeekid's great article with pix of different baskets of all types.

that way you can easily see how different this little part can be. since most quality "commercial" style machines have a 58mm portafiler, the baskets are largely interchangeable.

the question: which one makes the best coffee with carlos? currently -- and much to my surprise -- the winner seems to be the stock silvia rancilio basket!

this may change when i lower the temperature. . .

posted by fortune | 11:40 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments