Reviews

There seems to be a lot of debate and a lot of confusion about Niche Zero and filter or pour over brews. I think there are a lot of factors involved such as the type of coffee beans, roast level, etc that make this a heated topic. One of the complaints is that the coffee grinds are not consistent on coarse settings. Some argue that conical burr grinders have a higher ratio of fines which … Read more

If you read the Normcore V4 Tamper post, you’d know that I had high praise for it. It served me well in getting good shots of espresso. It was consistent and did what it was made to do. I bought it after reading good reviews from an online espresso aficionado community. This post might seem like I’m throwing the Normcore tamper under the bus, but that’s not the case. It’s not even about the Normcore … Read more

Tamping coffee is one of the key factors involved in pulling a perfect shot of espresso. The right amount of weight pressure can make a difference between under-extracted, over-extracted or a just right shot of espresso. The one I use is the Normcore Spring Loaded V4 tamper. So far, it has been doing what’s expected of it. It makes the tamping process easy and routine. Before, I had all sorts of problems with the stock … Read more

Coffee bean cellars are designed to simplify your workflow and keep coffee beans as fresh as possible. Unlike airtight coffee cannisters, coffee beans cellars are designed with single dosing in mind. With an airtight cannister, you can store as much as a pound of coffee beans and take out, weigh coffee beans as needed. Coffee bean cellars on the other hand are pre-filled and store between upto 30 grams of coffee beans each. That would … Read more

To answer the question in the title – does a coffee station need a tamping mat? For me, the answer is a an absolute yes. It’s simply a very practical accessory that makes tamping coffee grounds much easier in the espresso making process. The coffee station that I have is made from Laurel wood – a decent quality hardwood. And the last thing that I would want is to put small dents into it. So, … Read more