Sunbeam Ristretto Tamper Size

Kirt

Hi!
I have bought myself a Sumbeam Ristretto, and im slowly learning the ins and outs of making a good coffe, and im finding the plastic tamper supplied with the Ristretto isnt good enough.
Id like to purchase a new tamper, and have been looking on ebay, but im not sure of the size, and as i am at work right now i cant measure the basket.
Does anyone know what tamper size can be used with the Ristretto, and also what are your opinions on tamper material, wood or metal?

mattyj

I reckon the supplied tamp is good enough, you've just gotta know how to use it. I say that, coz I used a sunbeam for about 18 months, bought a few different tampers, and kept coming back to the supplied one. You won't be using a normal tamping technique - apply pressure and work the edges of the basket. Do that, add more coffee, tamp again.

tommy

your tamping technique will depend on your grind - i like to dose up a bit and tamp down hard. I use a coffeelab design tamper http://www.coffeelabdesign.com/ Its got the rubber on the pressure points so rsi is reduced massively - but for home use you wont be getting that anyway! i reckon these are great tampers, ive used a few ranging from the $20 alluminium to the $150 ones with springs to let you know when you have tamped 15kg but i rate these highly. The coffeelab one is only 95 and is damn sexy! im not sure what differences there are between commerical and domestic machines in terms of how to dose and tamp. Are your baskets 6g and 16g respectively or 8g and 18g? In regards to the wood/metal debate, what ever floats your boat as its only the handle right? each tamper will be different in terms of weight and height etc and i wouldnt have thought that a wood or metal handle would affect the tamp if they both weighed the same. Could be wrong though :|