The tamping technique of a Barista.
I stumbled upon scoresheets of my maiden entry into SNBC in 2009. (Oh no, not too sure why and how i have it though) It was painful seeing the big strokes across the page, a familiar sight when a competitor go beyond time which brings to automatic disqualification but it also brought a smile when i flash backed to an email i received from a then VIP of SCA, right after the event.
This person words was honestly what that made me competed again last year. This person says, "A job well done for what was just your first portray into competing. If not for your time, you would have made it into the finals! Please try again next year. We want to see more new faces."
Anyway, apart from the strokes on the scoresheets, there was another big comment on my techniques, especially the tamping part. Lets ponder on this as i am sure we all are guilty of this or practising it still.
My tamping technique:-
I started tamping coffee into a Lamarzocco Linea porter filter in 1998. (Yes, Linea Lamarzocco was used then in all Starbucks stores) I cannot really remember what was exactly taught to me then by my learning coach but when i started facilitating a "Art of Espresso" class myself, i remembered that this sentence was a favourite of mine, each and every time i demonstrate the tamping technique. "Rest the porter filter firmly to the counter, nice and even tamp. Use your arm, not wrist!" Then, our grinder was a Mazzer look alike (Astoria Grinder) and although taught, calibrating the grind setting was something i try to avoid. If a shot was coming out too fast, i rather manage it by giving the hardest tamp of my life then adjusting the grinds. [Forget the dosing, then the grinders came with a doser handle and SOP was two full clicks of the doser handle and i make sure the chamber was full of the grounded powder. ]
Back to the "hardest tamp of my life"..... It wasn't easy to teach a female barista to give their hardest tamp and during that time, i dare not say i design this technique which later becomes a habit but i can't remember too if there was a senior who "imparted this knowledge", i started to do a tamp rotation, the centre base of the tamper acts as a lever point and i started to use the ball of my palms to create multiple rotations. This action caused the coffee powder to be packed in further without much strength from the arm/wrist. (i googled this and found out a few websites that can relate to this techniques. It is called nutation!)
So nutating tamping is not encouraged. I wonder why though, now reflecting back. Along with knocking the sides of the porter filter ears (another technique that was frowned upon in my 2009 scoresheets , although i can explain the latter and why we should stop the habit of knocking) which i will find time to blog.
Anyone reading might want to shed some light?
This person words was honestly what that made me competed again last year. This person says, "A job well done for what was just your first portray into competing. If not for your time, you would have made it into the finals! Please try again next year. We want to see more new faces."
Anyway, apart from the strokes on the scoresheets, there was another big comment on my techniques, especially the tamping part. Lets ponder on this as i am sure we all are guilty of this or practising it still.
My tamping technique:-
I started tamping coffee into a Lamarzocco Linea porter filter in 1998. (Yes, Linea Lamarzocco was used then in all Starbucks stores) I cannot really remember what was exactly taught to me then by my learning coach but when i started facilitating a "Art of Espresso" class myself, i remembered that this sentence was a favourite of mine, each and every time i demonstrate the tamping technique. "Rest the porter filter firmly to the counter, nice and even tamp. Use your arm, not wrist!" Then, our grinder was a Mazzer look alike (Astoria Grinder) and although taught, calibrating the grind setting was something i try to avoid. If a shot was coming out too fast, i rather manage it by giving the hardest tamp of my life then adjusting the grinds. [Forget the dosing, then the grinders came with a doser handle and SOP was two full clicks of the doser handle and i make sure the chamber was full of the grounded powder. ]
Back to the "hardest tamp of my life"..... It wasn't easy to teach a female barista to give their hardest tamp and during that time, i dare not say i design this technique which later becomes a habit but i can't remember too if there was a senior who "imparted this knowledge", i started to do a tamp rotation, the centre base of the tamper acts as a lever point and i started to use the ball of my palms to create multiple rotations. This action caused the coffee powder to be packed in further without much strength from the arm/wrist. (i googled this and found out a few websites that can relate to this techniques. It is called nutation!)
So nutating tamping is not encouraged. I wonder why though, now reflecting back. Along with knocking the sides of the porter filter ears (another technique that was frowned upon in my 2009 scoresheets , although i can explain the latter and why we should stop the habit of knocking) which i will find time to blog.
Anyone reading might want to shed some light?
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