RSVP International Espresso Coffee Kitchen Tool Home and Commercial Use, Dual Sided Tamper, Aluminum Alloy

Does its job well, i.e. tamping espresso. The two sides make it useful for differently sized puck holders. Light, simple, and durable. Not fancy, but hard to go wrong.

Works perfect for my coffee!! Good quality

Used over a year: great value, works, and aluminum body matches my coffee machine. The smaller disk of the tamper presses the coffee grounds and the other disk is the handle (I suppose it could be reversed if you have a larger basket filter). Tamper fits most porta-filters but you can modify it if your basket is smaller (instructions below). Easily pushes commonly recommended 30 lb. pressure; in fact it can take my entire body weight which all tampers can't do. Simple to clean; a quick wash/rinse with no worry of rust or extra time cleaning crevices or caring for fancy wood handles. Other tampers are more expensive. Why spend the extra money? When tamping, place the setup on a sturdy, non-slippery surface, some people place it on a paper towel. You can experiment to get the right feel of the proper weight by pressing down on a bathroom scale. While tamping, use a screwdriver-rotating motion about 1/4 turn, lift up, then twist in the OPPOSITE direction to prevent the grounds from clinging to the disk. (Modification instructions) If the tamper is a little too big for your filter basket, you can file the outside edge of the tamper disc with a hardware metal file and fine sandpaper. File the tamper by rotating the outer edge of the puck over the file to make an evenly round reduction. Stop once in awhile and put the disc in the filter to see how far the puck goes down; the basket filter may be slightly shaped like a cone. You don't need to fit the disc down to the bottom because the grinds don't compress to the bottom. Stop filing about 1/4 inch past the level to where you usually would fill coffee, to account for coffee compression. Use fine sandpaper to smooth the edge and wash. If you file it manually, it'll take maybe 1/2 hour while you watch TV. There are online coffee aficionados who can give you further hints to a perfect espresso like Coffeegeek or you can google it. It's true about the size of coffee grounds will affect tamping so you can experiment. Italian ground is much smaller than American ground. Enjoy!

This item was an absolutely perfect match for the "De'Longhi EC155 15 BAR Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Maker" which I purchased at the same time. To make a PERFECT cappuccino also consider getting the above espresso maker, the "Stainless Steel 10oz. Steaming & Frothing Pitcher" and the "Bodum Pavina 2-1/2-Ounce Double-Wall Espresso/Shot Thermo Glasses, Set of 2". For around $100 this combo makes a cappuccino that is JUST as good as any coffee shop I've patronized! Be sure to get coffee especially fine-ground for espressos... don't just get an "espresso blend" for drip coffee makers! You can get "Cafe Bustelo" brand here on Amazon (look at its great reviews) or just about any big discount store and it makes a perfect crema and is delicious. Look for a yellow can. When filling the above espresso maker with coffee, use the included scoop, filled and then leveled. DON'T fill the scoop past the top at all! Dump the coffee in the center of the ONE CUP filter and tamp with the "RSVP Terry's Tamper" by just setting it down on the coffee, allowing the weight of the tamper to smooth and level the coffee into the filter. DON'T push or apply any extra pressure! Simply turn the tamper a few times to level the coffee, then lift it away carefully. If your crema is too dark and bitter, you probably pressed or tamped too much. If there is little crema or it is too light, you probably didn't tamp or smooth it enough. Set aside an 11-12 oz coffee cup and pull an espresso that just fills the 2.5 oz Bodum Pavina glass (the crema should drag across the bottom of the spouts on the espresso maker. Set the glass of espresso aside and fill the frothing pitcher with COLD milk. We successfully use plain almond milk or 2% cow milk. >>Be sure to only fill to just under the indentation in the middle of the pitcher.<< Use the steamer wand to froth the milk following the instructions that come with the EC155. The milk *should* froth up to just nearly overflowing, making just the right amount of froth. If you use coffee flavorings (like Torani Brand syrups) put them in the coffee cup first (2-3 teaspoons is what we like)... then pour on the froth... then pour your coffee on top. (Be careful... the wide and thick Bodum Pavina cup is a little hard to pour from without espresso dribbling down the side.) Give a very slight stir with a spoon and serve. If you like a very hot cappuccino just microwave for 20-30 seconds and then serve. Anyway, this tamper seems to be of nice quality. I have had no problem with flaking as others have reported. If used carefully and cleaned with each use, I think it should work for a really long time! As stated this is a PERFECT match for the Espresso/Cappuccino-making combo that we put together after much research. Enjoy!

I ran it through the dishwasher and it came out not shiny. Otherwise perfectly good, unless that not-shiny surface is toxic or something.

Bought this for my sister and it seems to be exactly as described, sturdy and useful for its intended purpose.

Not much else to say other than what is said in the title. It's a cheap tamper, the cheapest I've been able to find that will fit the De'Longhi EC155's filter, and it works perfectly. I thought it might be uncomfortable to hold, as the handle (in the case of the EC155, you have to hold the bigger part) is not ergonomically shaped, and it is necessary to apply about 50 lbs of pressure when tamping, but it fits my hand just fine, and I think I have average sized hands. It's not seamless; there is one quite ugly seam that runs the radius of the tamper, and juts slightly out, though not enough to keep it from fitting my porta filter. However, for the price, I didn't expect a gorgeous, flawless piece of art with a rosewood handle. There are such tampers out there, and they cost about 10 times as much. As far as I'm concerned, this is a lightweight, comfortable, and economical tamper, and I would recommend it to anyone who has an EC155 or machine with a similarly sized porta filter and doesn't want to spend a large sum on something that you use for 10 seconds every time you want an espresso.

I ordered this at the same time as my De'Longhi EC155. I'm glad I did. The De'Longi's built-in plastic "tamper" might work for leveling your grounds, but it would be almost impossible to tamp with. It's permanently attached to the machine, so you would have to press the basket UPWARD against it with the proper force (40 lb., according to some sources) without tipping the machine over. Instead, I've been using this tamper for the last five months, and it works beautifully. Others complained of plating flaking off, revealing a dull cheaper metal. I've had no flaking. I don't know if it's plated or solid metal, (manufacturers have been known to improve their products in response to complaints) but my tamper looks as shiny and new as the day it arrived. Given others' complaints about it not being dishwasher safe, I haven't been fool enough to risk putting it in the dishwasher when it's so easy to hand-wash. I wipe it with a clean, dry towel after each shot, so it doesn't need washed that often. Regarding claims it does not fit the De'Longhi EC155: the De'Longhi's portafilter has an I.D. of 52.5 mm. The smaller end of this tamper has a diameter of 50.1 mm. This means a difference of 2.4 mm. Subtracting the engineering tolerance for a loose running fit (.32 mm at this diameter) we get 2.08 mm. Divide by 2 to get the radius, and we get a 1.04 mm ring of grounds around the tamper. Even if the sides of the portafilter were straight all the way to the bottom, (They aren't, there's a step halfway down, with 4mm difference in the diameter of the top and the bottom.) some of the vertical force would be transmitted laterally against the sides, applying an equal force to all but the top 1 mm or so of grounds. So you have a ring of less compressed (but not uncompressed) grounds about 1 mm wide and 1 mm deep. The finer the grind, the deeper the tamper sinks into the portafilter. It sinks 1-2 mm at espresso grinds, so you'd have this 1 mm ring of less compressed grounds sitting ON TOP of a 50 mm puck of more compressed grounds. If water follows the path of least resistance, any water flowing along the outer edge will tend to flow away from this ring, toward the empty space in the middle. So you've got at little loose coffee siting on top of a perfect puck. How much? Given an average density coffee, (641 kg/m^3) about 0.1 g. I'm enough of a coffee snob to weigh my beans, not just scoop them. My coffee scale weighs to 0.1 g. That's about the weight of one coffee bean.