A revolutionary new espresso tamper design challenges an old wives tale about correct espresso preparation. Many espresso lovers are unaware that proper tamping enhances espresso flavor, let alone that they should be using a tamper at all.

To the home espresso aficionado, tamping is critical and yet, they too are often misled about the technical dynamics of correct brewing. Even the creator of this unique product had to learn the hard way.

Over 40 years ago, its designer began his love affair with this dark-roasted beverage as a frequent member of the audience at Chicago’s improvisational revue, “The Second City”. You could always hear the steam-frothed coffees being prepared in the kitchen during intermission… decades before a Latte Grande was to become a household word in the U.S.

While making espresso at home, he noticed the saturated pellet of grounds removed from the machine had been impacted by the force of the brewing pressure creating deep depressions in what had been a neatly tamped basket.

Using traditional flat and rounded tampers, it was apparent that much of the grounds had become over-saturated, while other areas could have benefited from better water distribution. An analysis revealed the brewing process had excessively extracted base oils from the grounds in the centralized depressions while other areas still retained flavor.

He tried different tamping techniques and impact surfaces until he realized that the coffee pellet needed to be formed in a way to help absorb the force of the brewing pressure, while ensuring a more even saturation of the grounds.

Experimenting with different curvatures and forms, a preliminary design was created that clearly produced a better espresso. The solution was to be a product with a precisely engineered concave tamping face to give the pellet a slight “crown”… something that would seem blasphemy to the more conservative coffee geek.

Although, in the pre-millennium years, the initial design was successfully test-marketed in the U.S. through Marshall Fields and Gloria Jeans Coffee, modifications have since been implemented to further improve the product’s versatility and cosmetics.

The anodized ORIGINAL GOURMET ESPRESSO TAMPER adorned with Swarovski crystals is individually made in limited quantities, yet sufficient to meet the exclusive demands of discerning consumers. www.espressotamper.com