Why grinding directly into the portafilter is ruining your espresso

When you go into a café or coffee shop and order your coffee, you watch as the barista smoothly moves around the bar, puts the portafilter under the grinder, and grinds directly into it - often while doing a couple of other things at the same time. Consequently, it’s only natural that when you make an espresso at home, you want to replicate the same technique. Only… it’s probably not helping you get the best out of your coffee.

Allow us to share some of the pros and cons of grinding directly into the portafilter - and why, with a Niche grinder, you will never have to do it again.

---

The problems with straight-to-portafilter grinding

It’s easy to slip into being scientific and technical - and we do like to be extremely precise here at Niche - but before we do that, it’s worth considering exactly what the aims and actions are when grinding into your portafilter.

First, the aim: to get a measured and even distribution of coffee grinds into the portafilter.

Now the action:

• Grind a set weight of coffee beans into consistent grind
• Have them pour out of the bottom of the grinder
• Catch them all in the portafilter

All this is done with the hope that they all fall evenly into the portafilter and that no grinds will spill over the side.

With the majority of home grinders, it’s simply unlikely that you’ll manage such an effective grind and distribution. This causes the three greatest problems with the straight-to-portafilter method:

• Clumping - The fine particles of coffee will tend to stick to the sides of the portafilter or clump together.
• Mess and waste - Unless everything is lined up perfectly, grinds will spill over the side and your dose will be less than you need.
• Poor grind distribution - The most significant issue, poor grind distribution will lead to a less-than-perfect espresso.

---

The importance of good coffee grind distribution

Coffee grind distribution is the spread of coffee across the portafilter. Perfect grind distribution would be an absolutely even spread of coffee particles in each part of the portafilter, and while perfect is unachievable, you will want to get as close to it as possible.

When grind distribution is poor, the brewing process will suffer. This leads to:

• Channelling - Channelling is when the water carves a route through the portafilter where it comes into contact with little or no coffee grounds. This results in droplets of clean water passing instead of coffee into your shot.
• Underextraction - Underextraction occurs when the water doesn’t have enough time to extract enough flavour from each particle of coffee, common when distribution is too loose. This leads to weaker, sour coffee with higher acidity.
• Overextraction - Where the coffee is packed too close together, the water may draw too many molecules from the coffee particle. The coffee becomes bitter, with the delicate flavours dull and overpowered.

A good grind distribution allows the brewing process to proceed unhampered. The coffee is drawn at the desired rate, and your espresso is balanced and delicious.

---

Why both home brewers and baristas grind directly into a portafilter

For home brewers, the choice of grinding directly into the portafilter is usually because:

1. That’s what they’ve learned to do watching professional baristas.
2. It saves time.
3. It looks tidy.
4. They didn’t know any better.

It’s simply a matter of education - once you know there’s a better way, you’re likely to use it. It stands to reason that most home coffee lovers replicate the barista technique. This is how they’ve seen the professionals do it

But why do baristas do it? Here, there’s a little more going on behind the scenes:

1. Baristas rely on skill - There’s no replacing experience and talent, and good baristas have plenty of both. The truth is they know what they’re doing. A professional barista will be taking into account many tiny factors that go into how they get the grinds into the portafilter, unconsciously adjusting for minor variations to ensure the coffee gets an even distribution and that there’s little-to-no waste.
2. Baristas are using professional-quality equipment - Café grinders are built for a very different environment to home use. Baristas need to grind large volumes of coffee quickly during service, without sacrificing consistency. That’s why they use grinders that produce an even, reliable grind at speed, all day long.
3. They have tools - Some baristas will choose to use additional tools, from dosing funnels to spin-levelling distributor tools, that will help ensure an even distribution.

While a home coffee bar is doing what it can to replicate a café setup, the demands on it are very different. Cafés are brewing coffee under pressure - rather like an espresso itself - whereas at home, it’s a more relaxed affair, resulting in a few cups a day. It’s a different environment with different needs.

---

Achieving a good coffee grind distribution

Thankfully, there are a few simple ways to meet the original aim - to get a measured and even distribution of coffee grounds into the portafilter.

The Niche grind cup

The best solution is also the simplest - don’t grind straight into the portafilter. The precision grind cup supplied with every Niche grinder is engineered to solve this exact problem, providing a quick and deceptively simple way to ensure evenly distributed coffee grinds.

The grind cup prevents static and clumping while also being exactly the right size to invert into the portafilter to ensure a perfectly even layer. It’s so impressive that when famed YouTube barista James Hoffmann first encountered it, he declared the dosing cup ‘a beautiful little thing that should be available with all coffee grinders’. Thanks James, we agree - and so did the world. Years after its initial appearance on the Niche Zero, dosing cups have become popular with many grinders. None that are quite as precision engineered, of course.

Using the Niche grind cup is as easy as every other part of the Niche grind experience:

• Place cup under the Niche grinder
• Grind beans into cup
• Place portafilter on top
• Gently invert into the portafilter and give a small shake

That’s it! An even distribution every time. Tamp and brew for a wonderful espresso.

The WDT distribution tool

Coffee distributor tools help by carefully redistributing the grinds once they’ve gotten into the portafilter. The most common of these is the Weiss Distribution Technique tool, or simply WDT tool.

WDT tools are used by many home coffee enthusiasts (and professional baristas too) to ensure an even distribution. They work by using thin needles to break up clumps in the portafilter, stirring the grounds and redistributing both fine and coarse particles for an even density.

WDT tools are an effective way to solve the distribution problem for home brewers. They add a little extra time to the process - 10 to 20 seconds, which can be significant in a coffee shop-like environment but of little concern when making an espresso at home.

Care must be taken to avoid over-agitation, however, where the grinds are aerated and fluffed up, resulting in the very channeling you’re trying to solve in the first place.

Good tamping technique

Tamping is an essential part of the espresso-making process and one where it’s worth taking the time to practice to get it right. Good tamping - just like a professional barista - will go a long way to ensure an even distribution in the portafilter, though it’s less precise than other solutions and can result in simply compacting the uneven grounds. Practice and experimentation are key.

Helpfully, at Niche Coffee, we have a helpful guide to tamping, which you can find here.

Professional-quality equipment at home

With Niche, you have the opportunity to have a professional level of precision in your home coffee bar. Choose between the conical burr Niche Zero or the flat burr Niche Duo, and you are assured a well-distributed grind every time. The single-dose Niche grinders ensure you get the right amount of coffee into your portafilter thanks to:

• Near zero retention - What you measure before the grind is what ends up ground and in the portafilter, with no particles left in the grinder. This smooths your workflow, reduces waste, and helps ensure that essential uniform distribution.
• Uniform grind - When your coffee grinds are all the same size, you reduce both over- and underextraction, resulting in a purer, more delicious drink.
• Repeatable accuracy - Precision engineering and a stepless dial means you can return to the exact grind settings each time, perfect for dialling in your grind and finding the perfect level for your recipe.
• The original grind cup - Need we say more? Both the Niche Zero and Niche Duo come with the ‘beautiful little’ dosing cup, so you never need to grind into the portafilter again.

At Niche, we love to keep it deliciously simple.