Preparing Espresso in Shops and Homes »

(For a guest barista review, click here.) Anfim's Super Caimano espresso grinder, upon its initial release, was a solid addition to any high-end coffee house. It featured a 75mm flat burr set that helped to give a very consistent grind, allowing baristas to rely upon it for excellent shot-to-shot uniformity. When dialing in a coffee, the Super Caimano had 70 holes in its adjustment collar to allow for tinkering between shots. Now, however, Anfim has added an additional 20 spots for a total of 90 holes in the adjustment collar. The benefit of this? When dialing in and finding the sweet spot for any coffee being used to pull shots of espresso, a key factor the barista must take into consideration is the size of the grind particles. Yes, uniformity and consistency of those grind particles is also key, but the ability to make tiny, incremental adjustments is always helpful when striving to find the right balance of all a coffee's characteristics when pulled as espresso.

Tampers are as diverse as the baristas who use them. Our new tamper meets the needs of almost any barista, whether professionally trained or newly beginning. With its durable aluminum handle and wide, smooth top, the tamper is ergonomically designed to fit comfortably into the palm unlike other overly rounded handles which can press a little too tightly into the hand of the barista, or flat topped handles which can become uncomfortable after extended use.

The base of the Prima tamper is of a hefty 304 stainless steel design. This solid steel base combined with the light, detachable aluminum handle adds balanced weight to the tamper which helps aid the barista in providing an even tamp, shot after shot.