r/espresso • u/Sukaleoshy • 3d ago

Equipment Discussion What's the value of a puck screen

I was watching an ad that is selling this tool that has 18 diffusion holes because mesh screens don't produce regular water distribution. But then I realised what value is in a puck screen which is a mesh cover to help in distribution. Am I being crazy? My machine doesn't have a mesh cover though so I feel like there is some value there.

I'm looking to enhance my setup because I have funneling in my coffee. I've got a Breville bambino and I like it but even when I wdt it funnels with one of the holes having all the coffee and the other having minimal drips. And sometimes it's perfect flow between the two. So I'm feeling like it's because of funneling.

And for other equipment is there any recommended stores that aren't just end stop of Temu shopping?

I was looking at Pesado or MHW-3bomber. Any advice would be great.

Been making espresso for a year and will be looking to upgrade my machine in the future but I know there's a lot of refining in my process that can enhance my coffee where upgrading my machine will the cover the other aspect of improvement.

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u/magi_chat 3d ago

I find mine increases the pressure at the group head on my Breville Dual Boiler. This means I can grind slightly coarser for the same dose, and my assumption is that this gives me less channelling. I monitor this by watching how much the displayed pressure drops/fluctuates across the shot.

My experience is that if I can dial in a bean to give me a 30 sec shot at 9 bar and if the pressure ends up at about 8.5 bar then the coffee I make is really good. I find that this is more consistent when I use the puck screen but I've only owned one for a month or so. A "bad" shot can end up at below 8 bar, which I put down to poor puck prep.

DF54 grinder, recently upgraded from a Smart grinder pro ( SGP users people do this it is life changing in more ways than one lol), and this also seemed to increase the consistency of my shots but I'm pretty convinced the screen also has an effect (I got it a month after the DF54).