Despite not remembering much from 2011 due to my sex, drugs and rock & roll lifestyle…..*I joke*…..for Yakup Aydin I imagine it was a better year than most. This was the year he not only became the 2011 World Barista Champion but also the year he invented the worlds first precision tamper, the Puqpress. Also known as the Flying Dutchman due to his Dutch heritage, the awarding winning barista is in no doubt a great position to critique and improve everyday Barista Life, hence why in his home town of Delft the brainchild of Puqpress was born.
As with many inventors (successful I should add) it involves finding a problem and solving it and in 2011 Yakup noticed a common issue faced in Espresso bars revolved around tamping. For those new to espresso making, tamping is a key job that follows grinding coffee whereby the coffee is contained in a portafilter (exhibit A below) and traditionally requires a tamper (exhibit B below) to be used to level and compact the coffee by hand (the process of tamping) to ensure it can be perfectly extracted when hot water is applied to the coffee via Espresso machine.
Yakup found some of the biggest problems facing baristas when tamping were to do with level tamping, applying consistent pressure and wrist fatigue that all contributed to inconsistencies when making Espressos, especially when alternating between baristas. Although expert baristas can tamp well, applying the exact amount of pressure repeatedly is never an easy task regardless of how many times you do it. With this in mind, Yakup set upon his quest to automate the whole process to as well as improve the life of a Barista give customers consistently great coffee.
Come present day, Puqpress has already passed its 3rd generation with a tamping machine that is both small and effective with fully adjustable pressure control. It is now available in over 45 countries gaining prestige by a number of high profile baristas with its use in championships. It has become a tool that enables baristas to focus on what makes them great, which is to get all the variables of brewing coffee perfect, do justice to great coffee and move you one step closer to tasting the legendary god shot. Watch it in all its glory with the main man Yakup below:
