WHAT IS A PORTA FILTER HANDLE? There are 3 types of porta filter handles, a single, double and naked. This is what you put the ground coffee into, which then locks into your espresso machine. WHAT DOES TAMPING MEAN? Tamping means compacting the coffee evenly in the porta filter handle. DOES IT MATTER WHAT PRESSURE I TAMP TO? It is thought that 13 kg of pressure gives the best results but this depends on personal taste and the grinder used to grind the coffee. If the coffee is tamped too hard, the flow of water through the coffee is restricted resulting in a bitter tasting coffee. If the coffee is tamped not hard enough then water will pour through and will not pick up any flavours on its way through. WHAT DOES EXTRACTION MEAN? Extraction is the rate the oils from the coffee are extracted. This is timed to determine if the coffee grind texture is correct. A short extraction will alert us that the coffee is ground to course, whilst a long extraction, suggests the coffee has been ground too fine. HOW LONG SHOULD AN EXTRACTION BE? A general rule is it should take between 22 and 32 seconds, but it depends on your personal taste of coffee and what coffee machine you are using. WHAT IS A PUCK? The used coffee left in the porta filter handle after a coffee has been made. DO I NEED TO DESCALE A COFFEE MACHINE? YES – IT IS A MUST!! 99% of coffee machine problems are caused by lime scale. You will need to descale more frequently in hard water areas than in soft water areas. HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOD GRINDER? Extremely important!!!! The best coffee machine in the world will produce a sensational coffee but if the ground coffee has been damaged by an cheap and ineffective grinder then the quality of the coffee is effected. The oils in coffee can be burned by a cheap grinder before it has been brewed.