Cone for BigStep Base | editor

A clear 'YES' with two small caveats:

the Colours, which we use for tampers, chisels, portafilters, spacers etc. are identical.

However, they work anodized Chisel looks a little different than the anodized tampers and portafilters. This is because we hand blast the surface of the chisel for a better feel - therefore the refraction of light is slightly different and anodized chisels appear slightly different than anodized tampers of the same colour.

This effect occurs powder coated Products not on, here the colors are identical.

Both Wooden Basically, the same wood is used, but it should be remembered that wood is a natural product and different batches of the same wood are always slightly different in terms of grain, color intensity, structure, etc. If you order a set (e.g. tamper and chisel) from us, we always make sure that the blades match each other or come from the same batch. Of course, if you buy a chisel or a portafilter after your tamper or vice versa, we cannot guarantee that. However, it has turned out that the differences are marginal and almost never disturbing, especially since woods tend to adjust in terms of color over time anyway.

Of the BigStep LITTLE is a further development of the BigStep; and in two ways:

1: the A little is significantly easier. Contrary to the widespread opinion that a high-quality tamper should have a certain weight, a low weight is always an advantage. You simply have more control when tamping. This is of particular interest to anyone who tamps many hundreds to thousands of shots a day, as the lower weight causes less fatigue. But it's also definitely a plus for private users or 'normal' baristas with a few dozen shots a day.

2: the second advantage is the narrower sidewall. This is particularly relevant if you like to fill your sieve very full - then you have more control when tamping with the narrower sidewall because the tamper edge does not protrude so far over the edge of the sieve.

In terms of further functionality, both are exactly the same. The main feature of the BigStep, the maximum coverage of the screen cross-section, is identical for both.

Of the BigStep MK III offers the same dimensions as the normal BigStep, but comes with a gold Titanium Nitride coating. Surface finishing with TitanNitrid is common in areas where the highest level of precision and robustness is required, e.g. in medical technology. This makes the tamper even more resistant - and it also looks good.

The BigStep is actually a small revolution - it's not the only one for nothing patented Tampers on the market. The step achieves an unprecedented increase in surface area without the formation of a vacuum. This reduces the channeling significantly. For physical reasons, no other tamper on the market can achieve this level of accuracy. Nicely explained here: 

Adjusting the height of the Chisel is child's play. You have to keep in mind: the ground coffee should only be spread out for maximum consistency, NOT (pre)-tamped. Therefore, the Chisel must be adjusted to the screen and the respective grammage. To do this, the top is loosened, then the Chiselbase can be screwed in or out, tighten the top again, done. Without tools and in no time. You can easily find the right height by trying it out: First you screw the base into the Chisel as far as possible - this way your ground coffee will not be reached when spinning. Please check. Then you can unscrew the base piece by piece - as described above: briefly loosen the cover, unscrew the base, fix it. Once the base reaches the flour, it will spread the coffee grounds - the result is an even puck. If the base is set too low, it pushes the ground coffee too far and thus tamps it. You absolutely have to avoid that. 

Below is an informative video tutorial by Adam:

Yes, you can, but the result will not be as good as with Pullman sevens. These are optimized for interaction with the BigStep tamper and the Chisel and are guaranteed to have the correct diameter (outer diameter).

For tamping, if you want it to be perfect, you have to use the Big Step, which fits so precisely into the Pullman sieve that no channeling occurs at the edge either.

The TampSure is a super practical tool to compensate for inconsistencies when tamping even better. Here in this video you will find the perfect instructions for the correct assembly of the individual elements. See the video below for detailed instructions.

Mounting the Palm Handle on an existing BigStep or Barista base is child's play. Mark shows how it's done in this video:

The most important parameters of correct tamping are horizontal accuracy and consistency, or to put it another way: the tamping must be straight and even. There are recommendations in various publications that you should tampe with 12kg (or more or less) contact pressure. Such a value is wrong - or at least misleading: it is much more important than maintaining a certain absolute pressure that you tamp consistently, i.e. always the same way. Whether that happens at 4, 6 or 8 kg is irrelevant. Tamping should only remove the air pockets that are still present after spreading (chiselling). Incidentally, coffee cannot be compressed infinitely anyway. When the air pockets (air pockets) are gone, the coffee no longer condenses, even with the maximum contact pressure. There is also a nice video by Adam about this. The horizontal accuracy is already 'pre-set' by the previous chiselling, so to speak, and the BigStep's fitting accuracy largely prevents you from tamping crookedly. However, it is helpful to hold the tamper in such a way that you touch the upper edge of the portafilter with your thumb and forefinger as a reference point when tamping. Then you can basically no longer tamping wrong.

No, this is not recommended. Of course you can always let more coffee run into the cup if you want to, but a technically (and therefore sensory) correct extraction is always based on a brew ratio of approx. 1-2, with recipe-related deviations.

The large sieves are often used in Australia, New Zealand and the USA for very light roasts in conjunction with machines that allow a long pre-infusion. However, only a double shot is always extracted.

Basically, our sieves are only compatible with 58 mm portafilters, but most machines use this format (all E-61 brew groups). There are no Pullman screens for 'special formats' such as 54 mm (Dalla Corte etc.), 53xx mm Sage etc.

If your portafilter fits the diameter, you still have to consider the height of the desired basket. Here are our screen dimensions (height from bottom center to basket edge):

17-19g: 23,65 mm

19-22g: 26,30 mm

22-25g: 28,65 mm

25-28g: 30,12 mm

Experience has shown that the 17-19g baskets fit in all standard portafilters, the 19-22 in almost all (but it doesn't hurt to eat afterwards), the larger ones almost never.

You need a new one for that portafilter body. Of course, it is always possible for all sieve sizes bottomless.

When you sign up for a complete Portafilter you decide, we have of course taken the appropriate size into account.