The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

About a month ago I decided to "rotate my tampers' and try one of my others. I selected my Reg Barber std Bubinga and decided to try it with the 54mm base. I walked with it in a straight line no more than 30ft to the S1 in my kitchen. There were a bunch of dirty dishes all over the place so I decided to do a cleanup first. 5 minutes later I was ready to pull a shot and that tamper was nowhere to be found. I have searched multiple times over the last few weeks and that tamper is history. Perhaps I will find it when I move...or when the replacement tamper arrives.

Which brings me to my next point. I had been admiring some of Reg's new tamper designs and decided to spring for a replacement. I ordered another Bubinga but with the new RB back logo. I also ordered a brass base rather than SS and I decided to try his new C-flat style base. I picked a 53.5mm base. I'll let you know what I think after it arrives.

I did have a bit of a sticker shock when I did the currency conversion. The significant delta between USD and Canadian $ has been eroding rapidly over the last year. I thought the USD was just going in the toilet relative to the Euro, but I guess its just tanking period! Thanks Gee Dub!

I've been looking into adding yet another temper in the collection. Let me know what you think of that one, the copper base looks tempting to me with a pink handle (hey, I'm trying to be cool).

admin wrote:I was ready to pull a shot and that tamper was nowhere to be found.

Did you ever find it?
I once lost a shot glass the same way, after cleaning up the dirty dishes and put everything away I still couldn't find it.

...the next day, my wife ran the disposal and we found it right away.
Too bad, it was a nice glass.

Do you like the new tamper?

Niko, the old Reg Barber appears to be history, but the new one at 53.5mm is a real sweet ride. Check it out.



You can see in the photo below that the base is convex around the edges and flat in the middle. I'm still not sure how much difference that makes. I only make about 3 coffee drinks a day, so it will probably take a while to decide.



So are you ready now to order a pink one?

A pink one with engraving!
...and the copper base too.

Did they coat that brass base with something so it doesn't corrode?

Is the 53.5 the "ideal size" for using with the stock double basket? Can the tamper be slightly rocked when tamping without it hanging up on the inside of the basket? Thanks.

-Kurt

Niko wrote:A pink one with engraving!
...and the copper base too.

Did they coat that brass base with something so it doesn't corrode?

Beats me. Ask again in a few months!

krus wrote:Is the 53.5 the "ideal size" for using with the stock double basket? Can the tamper be slightly rocked when tamping without it hanging up on the inside of the basket? Thanks.

-Kurt

There's a lot of basket variability out there, but it seems to be the ideal size for my baskets. It can be rocked when inserted to the normal level that one compresses, too. When it "bottoms out", the top of the piston is 1/8" below the lip of the basket.

I think I know what happened to your missing Reg Barber tamper.
Do you remember what happened in the movie Poltergeist?
....it's that last scene in the end, remember what happened to the house?
I think your tamper ended up the same way.