Methodology

How we test bottomless portafilters

Five properties decide whether a bottomless portafilter works on your machine and keeps working. Here is each one, and how the Puckwell portafilter answers it.

Our criteria

1. 1. The fit is named by machine model. Diameter alone is never enough: 51 mm exists with both two and three lugs, and 58 mm covers a range of otherwise unrelated machines. Each Puckwell fit is listed against the models it locks into — Breville and Sage BES 870 through 881 for the 54 mm, Dedica EC680 and EC685 for the 51 mm with three ears, Stilosa EC260 for the 51 mm with two, HiBREW H7 and H10a for the 58 mm.
2. 2. The basket seat is flat. The machined ledge the basket rests on has to be turned flat. A basket sitting at even a slight angle extracts unevenly no matter how carefully the coffee is prepared, and it produces a jet from the same place on every shot. On the Puckwell head the rim that carries the basket is turned flat, so the basket drops in and sits level. You can check any portafilter the same way: drop the basket in, hold the head to a light and turn it; the gap should stay even the whole way round.
3. 3. The basket supplied is non-pressurized. A single wall with a full field of fine holes, not a second floor with one hole in it. This is what decides whether an open base means anything at all: a pressurized basket forces every drop through a single point, so there is no puck to read. Every Puckwell portafilter ships with a 2-cup single-wall basket.
4. 4. The head carries enough mass. Stainless steel, and enough of it to hold heat through a shot. A head with too little mass cools the first part of the extraction, which shows as a sour, thin start on a shot that is otherwise correctly dialed. Mass is also what keeps the temperature steady once the portafilter has been sitting in the group. The Puckwell head is stainless steel, and buyers describe it as heavy — one reports double the weight of the portafilter that came with the machine.
5. 5. The handle is fixed, not merely fitted. The handle takes a twisting load every time the portafilter is locked and unlocked, and it heat-cycles twice a day. A handle pushed onto a thread works loose within months. The Puckwell handles are turned hardwood, or moulded black, with a chrome collar and end cap, so the load is carried by the fixing rather than by the wood.

Before you order

If your model is not on the fit table, send us the number and we will tell you which fit matches. Every order carries a 30-day money-back guarantee.