In the previous post, I was testing the new Intense portafilter on the ESE version of Handpresso’s portable espresso machine. Now it’s the turn of the Domepod (ground coffee) version.
As I said previously:
I’m not quite sure of the advantage yet (of the Intense portafilter), as flow rate can already be controlled by altering the grind size of the coffee.
I did come up with a theory however – that using the Intense portafilter may slow the loss of pressure when compared to simply grinding finer. For some reason the Intense portafilter would be better at stopping the pressurised air from escaping and consequently the coffee cake would be under higher pressure for longer. So to put this to the test I made several ristrettos (yes you can make these with the Domepod), some using a coarser grind and the Intense portafilter and some using a finer grind with the standard portafilter. But I couldn’t detect any difference between the two; so that was my theory out the window!
Back to the drawing board; my big assumption was that everyone has an espresso grinder, with access to 24/7. But that’s not the case. Once I realised this (stupid me) I came up with a list of scenarios where the Intense portafilter is beneficial:
- If you do have a grinder but it doesn’t grind fine enough for espresso.
- Or if you buy pre-ground coffee and again the grind size isn’t fine enough.
- If you’re going out for the day, and want to drink both espressos and ristrettos, but don’t want the hassle of making up and labelling which pods have which grind size in it.
I’m sure there are other scenarios. Please feel free to suggest any.
Tags: espresso
