The Starter Kit

The three steps that make shots repeatable — plus the brushes to keep them that way.

If your espresso is sour one morning and bitter the next, the usual cause is not the machine. It is the coffee bed: clumped from the grinder, uneven in the basket, tamped at a slight angle. The Starter Kit is the smallest set of tools that fixes that, for people who would rather not buy six things at once.

The routine

1. Ring on — the magnetic dosing ring keeps the grounds in the basket, not on the counter.
2. Stir — the WDT tool breaks up clumps so water cannot run through a soft spot.
3. Tamp — the calibrated spring tamper clicks at the same pressure every time, so your tamp stops being a variable.
4. Screen on — the puck screen spreads the water and keeps the group head clean.

What's in the box

• WDT tool with stand — €16.95 separately
• Magnetic dosing ring — €14.95
• Calibrated spring tamper, clicks at a consistent pressure — €22.95
• Puck screen — €11.95
• Barista cleaning brush set, five pieces — €11.95

Separately that is €78.75. As a kit, €55.

What this fixes, and what it doesn't

It makes your preparation repeatable and your counter clean. It does not fix stale beans, a grinder that will not hold its setting, or a pressurised basket. If you have no scale yet, buy one first — that matters more than any of this. Ours is €39.95; any accurate 0.1 g scale will do.

Prep Kit or Starter Kit?

The Starter Kit uses a calibrated spring tamper, which teaches consistent pressure. The Prep Kit uses a self-levelling palm tamper, which is faster and harder to get wrong, and adds the tamping mat and shot glass. Both cover the same four steps.

Which size do I need?

• 51 mm — De'Longhi Dedica, La Specialista
• 54 mm — Sage and Breville: Barista Express, Barista Pro, Bambino, Duo-Temp
• 58 mm — E61, Gaggia Classic, Rancilio Silvia

Not sure? Use the fit finder below or the fit guide. Wrong size when it arrives? We send the right one at our cost — see our size guarantee and 12-month warranty.

Delivery

Dispatched within 1–3 working days, tracked. United Kingdom 5–8 working days, Canada 6–10, Australia 8–15. Free over €50, so this kit ships free. 30 days to change your mind.