Why use Bottomless Portafilter
A bottomless portafilter significantly enhances espresso quality by allowing precise extraction control. Its open design eliminates flow restrictions, ensuring even water distribution through the coffee puck. This results in brighter acidity, richer sweetness, and cleaner flavor separation compared to traditional spouted portafilters.
Visualize the extraction process
The bottom of the Bottomless Portafilter is completely open, allowing the barista to directly observe the flow of coffee from the cake. This transparent feature allows novice baristas to visualize extraction defects (e.g. channel effect, uneven distribution of the powder layer), which would be masked by a traditional Bottomless Portafilter. Example：
Channeling effect: the water stream penetrates the weak areas of the powder to form fast channels, resulting in uneven extraction. In this case, the Bottomless Portafilter will show a spattering column or multiple streams, while the bottomed handle can only be indirectly judged by the smell.
Powder Quality: Uniform columns and fine tiger stripes are the hallmarks of an ideal extraction, which is achieved through consistency in abrasiveness, powder distribution, and powder pressing.
Improve extraction control precision
By observing the flow rate and flow pattern in real time, baristas can instantly adjust the parameters.
Grind: Too fast a flow rate (<20 seconds) indicates too coarse a powder, while too slow (>30 seconds) indicates too fine a powder.
Pressing force:The column may be shifted to one side of the flow, which may lead to the difference of powder density due to the uneven pressing of powder.
Powder uniformity: If there are gaps or lumps in the powder layer, the flow will be intermittent or locally whitish (over-extraction of impurities).
Optimizing coffee flavor
Uniform extraction maximizes the sweetness and complexity of the coffee's flavors and reduces the amount of bitterness. Through the feedback of the Bottomless Portafilter, novices can gradually learn how to balance acidity, sweetness and bitterness, avoiding localized over-extraction (prominent bitterness) or under-extraction (sharp acidity) due to channeling effects.
How can a Bottomless Portafilter enrich the coffee flavor
Enhance flavor layers
The uniform resistance of the powder allows the water flow to penetrate evenly through the coffee particles, synchronizing the extraction of the different flavor substances.
Top: Fruit acids and aromatic substances (e.g. citrus, floral/depending on the flavor of the coffee beans used).
Mid and finish: caramelized sweetness and fullness.
With a traditional handle, the channeling effect destroys this hierarchy, resulting in a dilution of flavors on the front end or excessive bitterness on the back end.
Enhancing Crema Quality
Bottomless Portafilter require finer milling and powdering to promote even CO2 release, resulting in a fine, long-lasting crema, compared to a pressurized portafilter, where the physical structure forces the creation of a crema, which tends to be a rough foam that dissipates quickly.
Reduced metal interference
Some filters with bottom handles are designed to introduce metallic flavors, while Bottomless Portafilter expose the bottom of the powder directly, avoiding secondary filtration that can interfere with the flavor.
Core differences between different types of handles
|
Type |
Design Features |
Applicable Scenarios |
Flavor Performance |
|
Bottomless Portafilter |
Completely open bottom, no strainer or diversion structure |
Home machine, Professional commissioning, technology upgrading |
Clear flavor, delicate crema. |
|
Pressurized Handle |
Built-in restrictor valve or double filter bowl, pressurized by physical structure |
Home machine, low precision bean mill |
Crema is coarse, single flavor |
|
Conventional Diverter Handle |
Perforated bottom for even dispersion of the coffee liquid. |
Stable production for commercial use |
Highly balanced, but may mask extraction weaknesses |
How to pick a Bottomless Portafilter
Prioritize compatibility
Size Matching: Common specifications are 51mm, 54mm, 58mm, which need to fit perfectly with the brewing head of the coffee machine (such as wrong matching will lead to water leakage or abnormal pressure).
Generally, Delonghi coffee makers have their special portafilter that needs to be specially adapted to the Delonghi coffee maker model. For example, the 51mm EC680 series coffee machine portafilter is compatible with all Delonghi coffee machine 3 ears portafilter, and the 51mm EC310 series coffee machine portafilter is compatible with all Delonghi 2 ears portafilter.Delonghi EC9XXX Series coffee machines use a dedicated coffee machine portafilter.
The 54mm Breville and Sage espresso machines use the same 54mm portafilter, but the 58mm Breville Sage machine uses a dedicated 58mm 3 ears bottomless portafilter.
Most 58mm espresso machines use the universal E61 brewing head, such as ECM, FEAMA, ROCKET, LELIT, etc., they are all the same E61 bottomless portafilter, and if it is a standard 58mm 3 ears espresso machine brewing head, then it will use the standard 58mm 3 ears bottomless portafilter.
Locking Angle: Check the snap angle between the handle and the brewing head (e.g. 45°or 90°rotation lock) to avoid installation difficulties.
Material and process
Food-grade stainless steel: corrosion-resistant, oxidation-resistant and heat-conducting, easy to clean, to avoid poor quality alloy affecting the flavor.
surface treatment: polishing process to facilitate the cleaning of residual coffee oils and grease, to extend the service life.
Structural design
Filter bowl depth: shallow filter bowl suitable for a single portion of powder (9-10g), deep filter bowl suitable for double portion (18-20g), the recommended amount of powder 18g-based.
Handle weight: too heavy handle may affect the flexibility of operation, it is recommended to choose about 400-500g.
Brand Recommendation
IKAPE offers a full range of bottomless portafilters for all coffee maker brands and models, 51mm DeLonghi, 54mm breville, 58mm breville and 58mm E61 bottomless portafilter, all of which IKAPE can supply with a fully adapted portafilter. portafilter, no need to worry about incompatibility problems. Because the IKAPE team has repeatedly tested the portafilter with different coffee machines, they have gained a wealth of portafilter data. In addition, IKAPE provides various styles of portafilter handles to choose from. There will always be a style you like. Please click here to choose your favorite IKAPE bottomless portafilter. IKAPE Bottomless portafilter
Suggestions for practice
Start with the basic parameters: fix the amount of powder (e.g. 20g), the water temperature (95℃), the extraction time (25-30 seconds), and only adjust the grinding degree to observe the changes in the flow pattern.
Record extraction logs: Take a video of the flow column of each extraction to compare the flavor differences and establish a sensory and visual correlation.
Step by step: Try adjusting the powder to water ratio (1:2 to 1:3) or pre-soak time to explore the flavor boundaries of different bean varieties as you become more proficient.
The Bottomless Portafilter is not only a tool, but also a bridge between the barista and the beans. Through it, novices can quickly build an intuitive understanding of extraction, and eventually make the leap from imitating recipes to creating flavors.
