I’m often asked, “What tamper should I buy for my espresso machine?” This question comes up frequently from both wholesale and retail customers, so I decided to synthesize my thoughts into a concise guide. By putting my recommendations in writing, I hope to provide a permanent reference, saving people from digging through hours of chats for my advice on tampers.
As someone who’s tested countless tampers, I’ve formed strong opinions about what works, what I enjoy, and what equipment I’d never recommend. Let’s start with the “absolutely avoid” category, as there are several tampers that fall into this group.
This guide is for coffee tampers to fit ⌀58mm Portafilter baskets, we will be making other guides catering to ⌀53mm soon
TAMPERS TO AVOID:
1. Convex Tampers
First on the list are convex tampers. Despite a cult following among people who have been using them for many years, I’m not a fan. Just don't buy them.
Why?
I’m all about evenness in espresso preparation. When water flows through a good shower screen, it distributes (roughly) evenly. A convex tamper, however, compacts the center of the coffee bed more than the edges, undermining that evenness. Water, being the laziest molecule that exists, follows the path of least resistance, leading to a higher likelihood of ring channeling. This is bad for extraction and bad for flavour.
It's sort of rule 101 of coffee tamping that you want a flat, even tamp - so why buy a convex tamper? Plus, no hate from me, but convex tampers look pretty silly, rocking around unstably instead of sitting flat - making them the least practical option of all tampers.
2. Standard ⌀58mm tampers
If your espresso machine comes with standard 58mm portafilters, avoid any coffee tampers rated ⌀58mm - or worse, a ⌀57mm one, which I’ve seen far too often in cafes and restaurants during trainings. Portafilter baskets are typically ridged, with a diameter slightly wider than ⌀58mm.
Using a tamper that’s too small for the diameter of your basket leaves an non-compacted ring of coffee, Unless you're going to tamp around the edges (which is a huge hassle anyway, your non-compacted coffee in the basket is going to offer far less resistance than the centre, once again increasing your likelihood of ring channeling.
3. Punch activated tampers
Every time that I have used tampers that are self-punch activated, these tampers have always left me with a cracked puck, or a puck which has separated from the wall of the portafilter from where the punch has activated while I have been trying to tamp. This leads to a weakened puck integrity and increases the likelihood of channeling.
Defenders of such tampers will claim that once you get used to it, this stops happening - probably true. But tampers should be very easy to use and not require specialist techniques developed through hours of practice.
TAMPERS TO CONSIDER:
Now we've got my initial meanness out of the way, let's get into what I actually recommend.
Buying a ⌀58mm tamper is off the cards for me, so what size should you get? ⌀58.3mm tampers are the smallest I would suggest looking into. The first renditions of the Puqpress utilise a ⌀58.3mm tamping surface - although, while I think Puqpress is a very good product for the cafe environment, I personally wouldn't suggest buying one for home. There are better, cheaper options out there.
My preference leans toward ⌀58.4mm or ⌀58.5mm tampers. Anything larger, like ⌀58.7mm, can be too tight of a squeeze, risking suction that pulls the puck out of compression during tamping—not ideal.
Here are the individual models that I recommend:
1. Decent Espresso v6 ⌀58.35mm - £80 - £130 (Depending on model)
My favorite tamper, hands-down, is the (sadly no longer available) ⌀58.45mm model from Decent Espresso, which was the V3. This is not in production anymore, as Decent have switched to using a ⌀58.35mm tamping base, individually machined, not machined via mould - so there is a high machining quality. Their reason for switching from 58.45mm to 58.35 was because the 58.45mm can sporadically produce suction, although this is something I have never had happen to me personally.
This is the tamper that I have been using for the last 5 years and I can't recommend it enough.
Pros:
- Incredibly precise
- Dual-Spring Calibrated for consistent tamping
- Perfectly level tamping guaranteed
- No suction from puck compression
- No over or under-compression
- Easy to clean and repair
- Perfect Consistency between users
Cons:
- These tampers can be considered expensive, depending on who you ask - especially when shipping internationally. I think I paid about £130 for mine.
2. Normcore Spring Loaded Tamper V4 ⌀58.5mm - £35 - £50
A really good, cheaper alternative to the Decent Espresso tamper. The link above will take you to the official website, although it's worth noting, several retailers offer these tampers from UK distribution locations, making them cheaper to buy domestically. Do your research though to make sure that you are buying an authentic model.
Pros:
- Precise
- Dual-Spring Calibrated for consistent tamping
- Perfectly level tamping guaranteed
- No over or under-compression
- Much cheaper than its competitors
- Perfect Consistency between users
Cons:
- Lower build quality, spring can weaken through repeated use.
- Occasional suction from puck compression
- I have come across several models which have broken, but if you take very good care of it, you'll have no trouble.
3. Push Tamper 58.5mm - £139
If you've been making coffee as long as I have, Clockwork Espresso's Push Tamper is almost certainly something that you'd recognise. Mastermind Pete has been machining these super precise tampers for years, and they have made their way onto the World's stage at the World Barista Championships many times - and for good reason.
These are best used when the dose and grind size is set, and not something that you will be changing throughout the day, as changing the setting on them can be a bit annoying, when compared to the spring loaded tampers, which are just ready to go. If you're after maximum precision and consistency, these things will set you in the right direction.
Pros:
- Incredibly precise
- Non-stick and Anti-Vacuum
- High Quality Machining
- No over or under-compression
- Injury reduction ergonomics
- Perfect Consistency between users
- Customisable
Cons:
- These tampers can be considered expensive, depending on who you ask.
- Changing tamp depth can be annoying