As any barista trainer will tell you, one of the most difficult barista skills to master is tamping. Sure, it looks easy enough. You just take the tamper and press down. But even the slightest inconsistency in your tamp will have an adverse effect on your shot. But new tamper from German manufacturers Mahlgut aims to change that.
The Mahlgut Tamper Palm has two interesting design features that seek to solve the problem of inconsistent tamping. The first is an exterior rim that uses the rim of the portafilter as a guide to ensure the tamp is perfectly level. The second design feature is an adjustable base which gives the barista control over the density of the tamp.
Mahlgut has graciously asked us to review their new tamper, and we’re excited to report back in a few weeks whether the Mahlgut Tamper Palm lives up to the hype.
Strange that in their video they smack the portafilter on the table after tamping. Surely this would lead to cracks in the puck and between the puck and the portafilter causing loads of opportunities for channeling. Not sure I’d buy a tamper from a company that does that in their video. BUT, I see a great opportunity amongst the chain cafes.
True that!!! Tamp consistent then… Channel!
Espresso heads are such sticklers for details…
Have to agree with you though.
This product looked so good, but whenI tried to order it the system does not seem to be able and spell the name of the city or state correctly, too bad.
I had the chance to have this tamper in my hand. For me its with 1.5 kg way to heavy.
Hi,
if you have problems to order it, please send us an email. We didn’t have the time in the past to translate our Website.
Furthermore in a few Days comes the Mahlgut Tamper SL. It is with a little bit more than 550 Gr. a less weight Version of our Mahlgut Tamper Palm.
@Keirnan
Yeah i know that some Baristas got a heartattack if they see how i smack the portafilter on the table. But i didn’t have problems with channeling and it works for me. 🙂
It’s a nice copy of the PUSH tamper. But revolutionary? No, because it already exists
That might be the case, but it’s been a year since the PUSH was announced and it’s still not available to the public.
It is a new thing in the world of tampers. After this I guess, a new era of tampers will begun to give more consistent PUSH everytime
This does look good and I can understand the thought process behind it since Tamping is a critical and necessary step in the preparation of espresso coffee for a number of reasons. After all, when it comes to great tasting coffee consistency really is key. However I do wonder how necessary it would be when an excellent barista should be well trained in coffee Tamping. Also, I can’t help but feel that using more and more gadgets like this removes something in the art of being a barista.
Innovative. It all depends on the density and consistency of the tamp.
How much is this?
I visited this post to see the beautiful dish and learn making it but what I found here was your coffee side. So you are an avid coffee drinker….I would like to introduce myself also as a coffee enthusiast living in India blogging about coffee. I made entry to this world back in 2013 when I was just known to Nescafe, an instant coffee. But, now I can say I know much better about coffee than before.
I haven’t tried the Mahlgut Tamper Palm, but it certainly looks great even though it’s a little heavy! However, I feel they maybe trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Yes, many baristas are inconsistent when it comes to tamping coffee grinds, but surely this is either a training or lack of focus issue?