Rip off Vs knock off 😂 Thanks for the video

For years, I’ve been using a small, glass cup for shaking. I recently bought a Weber shaker, thinking that it might improve workflow or distribution. It made both worse. My method is to toss like sautéing in a pan, definitely not to violently shake. We want to homogenize, and not to cause clumps. Next, I pour it into the portafilter with a magnetic funnel. I shake to flatten it, do a surface level rake with a WDT tool, one firm tap on the counter, and tamp. So, why is the shaker worse? First, it has three pieces to handle, and they all get dirty. Next, why doesn’t the body have magnets? I can’t shake the portafilter with the shaker on top. So now I need the funnel too. Also, because I can’t see inside the shaker, I can’t get the grounds roughly distributed before removing the lid. I could shake it side to side with the lid off, but the plug isn’t magnetic, so I risk it falling apart and making a mess. With my little glass bowl, a magnetic funnel, and just a little skill, I get a better, faster result. Who cares about the extraction of the Weber, when the workflow is so dumb. Had they added magnets and maybe a glass lid, it might have been another story.

So, the line between if using wdt is, you only use the wdt to smooth it out and get it close to even before tapping using the counter then tamp.

I read in a Reddit thread that the weber has more retention when you use water.

I used to do WDT but found it lacking in consistency, possibly just operator error. I tried the knockoff shaker and found I still needed to use a funnel to stop coffee spilling and avoid burning my hand touching the hot portafilter. I still tap the sides to get the top flat. I use a side to side shake not just up and down, I also rotate 180 degrees in the middle to ensure all the coffee is mixing. I prefer the shaker but I tap the top with the wooden handle of the tamp before removing the shaker lid. I use a dry paper towel to clean the shaker and found coffee accumulation to be greatly reduced for the next two or three uses.

I spent about a month doing some accurate testing of shaking, it took that long to figure out the mode of action, but it does work to boost EY in some cases, specifically if you're on the clogged side of the grind size to EY curve (did a vid on it). It works by basically homogenizing the critical bottom layer that contacts the basket (as grinders can produce grind size inconsistencies during start up). It's the size distribution of the grind particles in this layer that impacts evenness of flow, in fact it governs flow I'd say... Lance, phrased he's video unfortunately, as he pitted shaking "VS" WDT whereas I found both are somewhat important for light roasts and the newer precision baskets. The other thing i found was that you can just shake in the dosing basket with a cover, pour into the espresso basket, then some WDT and that produced EY's as good as the blind shaker (non-weber) with WDT, i.e., it's really the shaking process that matters, not the blind shaker per say, in my opinion... have fun testing, it's a fascinating subject :)

The magnet is so that the shaker "locks" to Weber's eg-1 grinder.

So what exactly is the shaker meant to do?

The magnet is for grinders like fellow ode

Try to compare force tamper with mhw 3bomber constant tamper.

Man I can't seem to find one of those but for 54mm.

Luckily I found a much cheaper alternative to coffee: Ritalin

I think you should get a spiral WDT and call it a day. I have one and I think it tops blind shakers by far. I got a Gusucin brand on Amazon for $35. MHW3-Bomber has a nice one. I was surprised to see you try again after the first time. 😳