Packing for Espresso-35 years later

Dear Reader,

When we opened in 1988 I toured Italy twice to study extraction techniques and equipment.  One of the takeaways was the hand  position and tool for espresso packing. We trained on scales for years and I thought the straight arm and wrist position I has seen in Italy , combined with 40 pounds maximum force, would be sufficient to avoid long term injury.

I was wrong. As baristi pass the 20 year mark on daily shifts, some have developed wrist or shoulder injuries from packing the coffee by hand.  And as for myself, at the 35 year mark of packing by hand…I developed wrist problems.

So I am recommending two packing machines.

Mechanical hand packer from Italy.  This works but still requires a repetitive, forceful lever pull to achieve packing.  The repetitive nature of the activity will probably result in tendon and ligament problems also. 

Enter the PUQ press…

We have used this for about one month.  It can be made to pack at a force of your choosing, we set it at 40 pounds. It has a few tricks up it’s sleeve however.  Here is what we have learned:

For our naked porta-filter (PF), you need to adjust the height of the bracket that holds the PF in place as tightly as possible.  Even after doing that check your level with a hand packer and adjust your usage angle if needed by lifting the PF handle at the moment of packing. If the pack is not level the pour will be off center, not good.

Ground coffee will accumulate on the piston surface and we wipe it every few shots with a rag.

Ground coffee will also accumulate on the sides of the piston and may enter the motor enclosure and ruin the machine over time. There is a cleaning button on the control panel to lower the piston as shown in the picture. We wipe this about once every hour.

I never expected staff to run the front bar for more than a few years but several Vivace veterans have reached that point.  Not all of them have developed problems from packing but I have switched to the PUQ anyway. We went with the GEn 5 Q2 model and it is capable of hundreds of shots a day.