IKAPE Coffee Products, 58mm Coffee Distributor & Hand Tamper, Adjustable Depth Espresso Distributor Fits All 58mm Espresso Portafilter, Compatible with Rancilio, Gaggia Portafilter (Black)

Having one tool for both tamper and distributor takes up less space on my counter. Workmanship and finish are perfect. Weight is nicely heavy (441g) and feels good in the hands. Height adjustment on both sides is easy and the locking mechanism works perfectly. I have adjusted it several times and so far I have been able to loosen it and tighten it easily enough and it has never accidentally come loose. It took me a little bit of time to "dial in" the height but I think I've got it just right now. I just noticed that I do get a little bit of residual coffee along the edges where the distributor and the portafilter meet. That might mean I'm not pressing down evenly maybe? Humm. I'll have to watch that. I'm still a bit of a coffee novice and am not that fastidious in my technique so take my comments with a grain of salty coffee grind.

As a newbie to home espresso I wanted a tool that provided a lot of value for its price and look nice too. This met all the criteria. My grinder and accessories are white. The polish on the faces is nice. The distributor seems to help, but requires the grounds to be mostly even to start, no surprise it is not a miracle worker. The depth adjustment is my favorite feature. It prevents over tamping and ensures I’m consistent between each dose.

It's heavy duty and adjustable. Works for Breville Bambino Plus portafilter.

Let’s get the bad out of the way: my 58mm, silver distributor/tamper only had depth measurements showing on the distributor side and not the tamper side. Furthermore, the depth readings are very faint and tiny, making them difficult to read. Good thing this is one of those set and forget things. If you need to constantly adjust yours (eg because you need different depths for different baskets, etc) then I wouldn’t recommend relying on these markings.Second, there are quite a few unfinished metal edges, and you can feel the sharp metal while using the product. It probably won’t cut you but let’s just say it’s not comfortable, especially if you’re using the tamper and have to place your palm over the distributor surface.Overall though, this is a solid choice and has a nice heft to it. It does the job for me and my 58mm Breville portafilter, and my workflow is made a tad more efficient since I don’t need to grab a tamper. While it’s not perfect given the shortcomings listed above, the price is decent and it’s probably good enough for most people, hence 4 stars.

The media could not be loaded. I really like this product, it is heavy and made of good quality metal and stainless steel. I have been using it for months and I have not had any problems. I have no complaints about this product. I would buy it again and I recommend it 100%.

So when I say dial it in, you have to choose the right depth, in millimeters, for the distributor and the tamp. It is trial and error initially until you converge to the correct depth. It's great that the product has the millimeter markings on both ends because it makes it real easy to get the adjustment perfect.In my case I always use 18 g of coffee grinds. The distributor protrudes to the 9 mm mark. When I place it on top of my coffee that still looks like a mountain peak after grinding, I just spin about 8 to 10 times until the ikape adjusting ring makes contact with the basket rim.Then I flip it over and place the tamp onto the distributed coffee grinds. At this point there is about 1 to 1 and 1/2 mm space between the top of the basket rim and the adjusting ring. Tamp down to make contact and I'm done.That workflow has it consistent every time. And the coffee is tamped down such that when I put the portafilter in the group head, the coffee does not make contact with the shower head.Highly recommend. The biggest selling point that I mentioned above is the millimeter markings. Without those, the other products are just in guessing game.

Two-ended feature is very convenient. Depth adjustment for both the distribution end and the tamp end is greater than the 2-ended tool I previously used, providing more flexibilty for deeper baskets. Previous tool also collected grounds during use of the distribution end - the design of the IKAPE seems to avoid this. Once you set and lock the depth of both ends, and use a consistant quantity (by weight) of ground beans, you will get a constant tamp every time, resulting in very consistent shot timing. Small adjustments to shot time between batches of beans or different roasts are made via small adjustments to your grinder. Have used this tool for about 3 months and am very pleased.

I really like this product, but I needed a smaller diameter and so, I cannot use it. It is hunky and feels really good in my hand. I will gift it.