After purchasing a coffee machine, it is inevitable to choose related accessories, as this is the only way to better extract delicious Italian coffee for oneself. Among them, the most popular choice is undoubtedly the coffee machine handle, which has always been divided into two major factions: one faction chooses the “diversion portafilter” with a bottom flow outlet; One approach is to choose a novel and aesthetically pleasing ‘bottomless portafilter’. So the question is, what is the difference between the two?
The diverter portafilter is a traditional espresso machine portafilter, which was born in the evolution of the coffee machine. In the past, when you bought a coffee machine, you would usually get two portafilters with diversion ports at the bottom! One is a one-way diversion portafilter for a single-serving powder basket, and the other is a two-way diversion portafilter for a double-serving powder basket.
The reason for these two distinctions is that the previous 1 shot refers to the coffee liquid extracted from a single powder basket. If a customer orders this, the store will use a single powder basket to extract a shot of espresso for him; if two shots are to be made, the store will switch the handle, switching the single-portion to a double-portion, and then put two shot cups under the two diversion ports, waiting for the coffee to be extracted.
However, since people no longer use the previous extraction method to extract espresso, but use more powder and less liquid to extract espresso, the single-portion powder basket and single diversion handle are gradually declining. Until now, some coffee machines still come with two handles when purchased, but the manufacturer no longer comes with two handles with diversion ports, but a bottomless handle replaces the position of the single-portion handle, that is, a bottomless coffee handle and a diversion coffee handle!
The bottomless portafilter, as the name suggests, is a handle without a diversion bottom! As you can see, its bottom is in a hollow state, giving people the feeling of a ring that supports the entire powder bowl.
The birth of bottomless portafilters
When still using traditional splitter handles, baristas have found that even under the same parameters, each cup of extracted espresso will have slightly different flavors! Sometimes normal, sometimes mixed with subtle negative flavors, this leaves baristas puzzled. So, in 2004, Chris Davison, co-founder of the American Barista Association, collaborated with his colleagues to develop a bottomless handle! Remove the bottom and let the healing process of coffee extraction come into people’s sight! So we know that the reason why they thought of removing the bottom is to see the extraction status of the espresso more intuitively.
Then, people found that concentrated splashing would occur from time to time during the use of the bottomless handle, and finally experiments showed that this splashing phenomenon was the key to causing the taste change. Thus, the “channel effect” was discovered by people.
So which is better, a bottomless handle or a diverter handle? I can only say: each has its own advantages! The bottomless handle allows you to see the concentrated extraction process very intuitively, and can reduce the space occupied during extraction. It is more friendly to dirty coffee making, such as using a cup directly, and it is easier to clean than the diverter handle;
The advantage of the diverter handle is that you don’t have to worry about splashing. Even if the bottomless handle is operated well, there is still a chance of splashing! Usually, in order to present the best taste and effect, we will not use an espresso cup to receive the espresso, because this will cause some grease to hang on this cup, reducing the taste a little. So generally use a coffee cup directly to receive the espresso! But the splashing phenomenon will make the coffee cup look dirty like the one below.
This is due to the height difference and the sputtering phenomenon! Therefore, in this regard, the diverter handle without sputtering will be more advantageous! But often, its cleaning steps are also more cumbersome ~ Therefore, in the choice of handle, you can choose according to your personal preference.
Post time: Jul-03-2025