We attempted out the Puqpress, billed as the arena’s first computerized tamper
BY KIARA TEASLEY
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE
Footage by way of Kiara Teasley
Tamping is an crucial step for crafting coffee, however exact tamping will also be difficult, particularly in a hectic café atmosphere. Maximum baristas are skilled in guide tamping to some degree, and subsequently remember the fact that getting a superbly flat, lightly disbursed puck can best be completed after heaps of apply. Fortunately, the theory of mechanically tamping got here to fruition with the Puqpress, billed as the arena’s first computerized tamper.
Since its debut a handful of years in the past, the Puqpress has soared to reputation specifically at cafés with heavy site visitors, in addition to the ones the place barista ergonomics are valued. Guide tamping calls for the barista to bend their wrist to this type of level that may motive discomfort or even harm with the numerous repetitions of drink making. A barista myself, I made up our minds to offer the Puqpress a check pressure in my very own kitchen with out distractions to look if it was once in point of fact value all of the hype. The fast resolution? It completely is.
Some Professionals of the Puqpress
Ease of use
Even new baristas can pull high quality pictures with the assistance of the Puqpress; it’s just about error-free. Commonplace errors baristas make when manually tamping come with asymmetric tamping, and/or tamping with an excessive amount of or now not sufficient power—however the ones are all non-issues when the usage of a Puqpress. A procedure that may take a few seconds even for an espresso-pulling professional will also be diminished to a fragment of the time.
Hurt aid
Distinctiveness-coffee baristas aren’t any strangers to the possible hurt that conventional tamping could cause to at least one’s wrist. In contrast to folks, machines are much less vulnerable to mistakes and are apt to care for extra put on and tear. Prepping and tamping a number of coffee pucks consecutively on a sore, broken wrist can pose a hindrance to workflow and result in extra bodily pressure. The Puqpress reduces the possibility of this not unusual office harm.
Waste aid
The Puqpress’ inherent consistency is notable in {that a} barista won’t ever must throw out and remake an coffee if the tamp was once off—as a result of with the Puqpress, it simply by no means is. Café homeowners acknowledge that this now not best saves time however cash; fewer wasted pictures implies that dear strong point roast they’ve invested in stretches so far as they was hoping it might after they purchased it. The Puqpress is subsequently an funding in high quality regulate, stock waste, and maintaining buyer pride. It’s an excessively worthy addition to any third-wave espresso store’s coffee bar.
A Few Quibbles …
Area
The Puqpress itself is cumbersome and takes up a just right bite of counter house; at my office, it’s nestled in a good squeeze between the coffee grinder and the coffee system. However the dimension is a quite small worth to pay for its total usefulness and potency. And what’s extra, the producers of the Puqpress created answers for the loss of counter house actual property such a lot of small retail outlets grapple with: Puqpress’ M-Line fashions have been designed to connect underneath many manufacturers and fashions of grinders in the marketplace, which means the Puqpress if truth be told takes up no house in any respect.
Price
The Puqpress is a forged acquire determination for a café proprietor having a look to toughen their coffee apparatus and setup, safeguard their workers towards office accidents, and handle high quality, speedy carrier, and constant beverages. Like maximum items of top-end apparatus, it doesn’t come affordable. Whilst the Puqpress Mini—probably the most inexpensive type—might be utilized in a house atmosphere, it might be a substantial funding for a house consumer. However hiya, if making nice coffee at house is sufficient of a keenness for you that you just invested in a Los angeles Marzocco Mini and a Baratza Sette 30 grinder—to not point out a Fellow Stagg EKG Professional electrical kettle—smartly, a Puqpress Mini may well be simply the item to lift your house bar setup to the following degree.
Conclusion
In abstract, the Puqpress is a top-tier device for a hectic café atmosphere with its simplicity and simplicity of use. It takes a portion of the weight of power off of a barista’s wrists, and it additionally makes the repetitive means of pulling pictures sooner and smoother all the way through high-volume hours. For each seasoned and newbie baristas alike, the Puqpress has proved to be an without end treasured asset to the arena of specialty-coffee generation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kiara Teasley (she/her) is a author and Charlotte, N.C., local. She works for Natural Intentions Espresso, an area strong point espresso roastery. Along discovering high quality natural- and honey-processed, single-origin coffees, she enjoys studying vintage literature, training yoga, and testing native song presentations in her downtime.
