What are the chances?

dfk41

Today our cleaners turned up. One of the girls, Kim has just had a minor heart attack and it was her first day back. She came in clutching a small box, and excitedly told me she has found it in a charity shop, did not know what it was but saw the word coffee on the box, thought of me and bought it. It turned out to be a Chinese levelling tool. Now, strangely enough I had been looking at these last week on Ebay but never got around to buying one.
The strange thing is that you would have bet good money, that it would be 58mm. I got rid of all my 58mm stuff when I gave my son my Londiddly in June 2020.
Lo and behold, the one Kim brought for me was indeed 53mm!

LMSC

dfk41 Such a lovely thought and gesture. I guess, you owe her a cup of coffee from Evo every time she visits your home for cleaning.

Rob1

LMSC Maybe decaf for a while…

chlorox

She just had a heart attack and yet she was so thoughtful that she brought u a gift? That is a very admirable person there indeed!

That looks similar to the made in China tool that I have. Let us know how it performs !

dfk41

chlorox It is a Chinese one matey. Allowing for the fact it is 53mm it works well as a leveller. I doubt the .05mm or so really matters as I then tamp. Kim is a lovely girl in her 60’s with bright pink hair. Life has dealt her some awful cards in the last 10 years. I always believe that charity starts at home and have ‘helped’ her in many ways. Yes, I was touched when she came in yesterday with the gift, but even more so when she said I saw the word coffee and thought of you.

dfk41

Just a quick update with a question for those who might know I have used it for a few days now and whilst it certainly levels the puck nicely, as Your can see from the photo, the coffee builds up. I suppose if I did not extend the base down then this would not happen. I can try it actually as it should still level I think. Have attached a photo. Do they all do this?

Rob1

The ones I have used don’t. Not that bad anyway.

dutchy101

What he said. I do tend to brush the sides if mine diwn after use that said

Cuprajake

if you spin fast enough, they bounce around the basket,

little knock then tamp, there ok, ive done away with mine

LMSC

The only question I would have is - does it distribute all the powder from the bottom? I won’t worry about the puck gathering around the edges.

Edit:

You have got a nice and a thoughtful gift. I would try using it without extending the base all the way down; but, the challenge would be a lack of uniform distribution - top to bottom / vice versa.

Rob666

Use mine (cheap Chinese knockoff) all the time. Once in a while I get a small amount in the groove between the head and the handle (if you see what I mean) but not often and when I do a quick tap removes it. Mine has never looked like your pic.

MediumRoastSteam

I reckon that’s because the distributor is too narrow for the diameter of the basket, therefore you are bound to have coffee collected around the edges.

As others said, give it a gentle tap and hopefully it should dislodge it. And then you can tamp it.

Ernie1

Yeah my experience is exactly the same as @Rob666

I find if it’s set too deep it’ll pick up more coffee around the edge. I tend to have it set fairly shallow just so it levels the upper portion of the coffee to provide a flat tamping bed, works a treat.