Spot the Uneven Bed Before You Tamp
Identify an uneven coffee bed as the highest-risk puck-prep issue before tamping.
Right before the tamp. Find the puck-prep issue most likely to make water take a shortcut. Coffee bed is mounded high on one side Correct. A side mound turns into uneven puck density after tamping, so water will favor the lower-resistance path. The tamper is resting beside the portafilter Not the issue. The tamper matters when it lands level, but the visible risk is the uneven bed it would compress. Loose grounds are visible near the basket rim Worth cleaning before locking in, but a few rim grounds are not the main extraction risk compared with the sloped bed. The…
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