Categories: Reverence

Reverence: Chris King Espresso Tamper

Even if you don’t own an espresso machine, you might want to own one of these. It’s art. It’s form and function in a seamless little object. If you do own an espresso machine and you call yourself a Cyclist, you will be very happy if you do own one. This tool is reason enough to obey Rule #56.

Chris King is a fanatical company; fanatical for all the right reasons. In a world full of “good enough” someone has to draw the line.

Coffee is fundamentally important at Chris King, and our espresso tampers are an expression of how much we value that deliciously potent drink. We worked with the Portland, Oregon based America Barista & Coffee School to develop a professional grade espresso tamper. Each part is machined in-house for aerospace quality precision that results in an Espresso Tamper with exceptional feel and the iconic shape of our legendary NoThreadSet headset.  -Chris King

When mine arrived, I thought they had mistakenly sent two. The box was much too heavy for one. But no, at almost a half kilo, it must be one of the heavier items Chris King ships out of its factory. Even if you are not a closeted machinist, the feel of this in the hand really defies description. The “58” inscribed into the curved stainless steel face of the tamper is machined into it, no stamps, no lasers…fanatical. Mine is Giro pink and stainless steel. I get pleasure from it every time I hold it and this pleasure will probably never wear off. When it has, I’m the walking dead.

I have it on good authority the Campagnolo wine cork puller is also the best in show for manual pullers and why not? A perfect tool is a perfect tool; if you need a tool it might as well be perfect.

 

Gianni

Gianni has left the building.

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  • @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni, that is truly a thing of beauty. And only £20 wife pounds (for those of you familiar with wife pound conversion)

    Or 0.04 carbon wheel units. I’m not familiar with wife pounds but I would assume everything bike related costs £20 when discussing with wife.

    The beauty of WPC is that it fluctuates just like the real markets. Thus a set of Jagwire cable housings at £60 become £28 ( DO NOT round everything to the nearest 5) but a set of cosmic carbon hoops at £1100 become £375.

  • @gilly

    @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni, that is truly a thing of beauty. And only £20 wife pounds (for those of you familiar with wife pound conversion)

    Or 0.04 carbon wheel units. I’m not familiar with wife pounds but I would assume everything bike related costs £20 when discussing with wife.

    The beauty of WPC is that it fluctuates just like the real markets. Thus a set of Jagwire cable housings at £60 become £28 ( DO NOT round everything to the nearest 5) but a set of cosmic carbon hoops at £1100 become £375.

    It must be the same variable that governs the quantification of time since purchase.

    "That thing? I've had it for ages."

  • @gilly

    @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni, that is truly a thing of beauty. And only £20 wife pounds (for those of you familiar with wife pound conversion)

    Or 0.04 carbon wheel units. I’m not familiar with wife pounds but I would assume everything bike related costs £20 when discussing with wife.

    The beauty of WPC is that it fluctuates just like the real markets. Thus a set of Jagwire cable housings at £60 become £28 ( DO NOT round everything to the nearest 5) but a set of cosmic carbon hoops at £1100 become £375.

    This could be an article but if some wife ever reads anything on this site, we could all be busted. The chances are unlikely though (of a wife ever reading anything here).

  • @chris

    @gilly

    @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni, that is truly a thing of beauty. And only £20 wife pounds (for those of you familiar with wife pound conversion)

    Or 0.04 carbon wheel units. I’m not familiar with wife pounds but I would assume everything bike related costs £20 when discussing with wife.

    The beauty of WPC is that it fluctuates just like the real markets. Thus a set of Jagwire cable housings at £60 become £28 ( DO NOT round everything to the nearest 5) but a set of cosmic carbon hoops at £1100 become £375.

    It must be the same variable that governs the quantification of time since purchase.

    “That thing? I’ve had it for ages.”

    This is connected to the idea of always buying bikes with black frames, black camouflage. "Ahhh, that's just my bike."

  • @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni, that is truly a thing of beauty. And only £20 wife pounds (for those of you familiar with wife pound conversion)

    Or 0.04 carbon wheel units. I’m not familiar with wife pounds but I would assume everything bike related costs £20 when discussing with wife.

    The beauty of WPC is that it fluctuates just like the real markets. Thus a set of Jagwire cable housings at £60 become £28 ( DO NOT round everything to the nearest 5) but a set of cosmic carbon hoops at £1100 become £375.

    This could be an article but if some wife ever reads anything on this site, we could all be busted. The chances are unlikely though (of a wife ever reading anything here).

    Jeez  @Gianni you've got some cojones. "Release the wives!"

  • @gilly

    @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni

    @gilly

    @Gianni, that is truly a thing of beauty. And only £20 wife pounds (for those of you familiar with wife pound conversion)

    Or 0.04 carbon wheel units. I’m not familiar with wife pounds but I would assume everything bike related costs £20 when discussing with wife.

    The beauty of WPC is that it fluctuates just like the real markets. Thus a set of Jagwire cable housings at £60 become £28 ( DO NOT round everything to the nearest 5) but a set of cosmic carbon hoops at £1100 become £375.

    This could be an article but if some wife ever reads anything on this site, we could all be busted. The chances are unlikely though (of a wife ever reading anything here).

    Jeez  @Gianni you’ve got some cojones. “Release the wives!”

    What are you all on about ?

    I tell my wife everything about the cycling related purchases I get.

    Well, for example, a couple of months ago I got a set of fine 38mm full carbon wheels for the amazing price of $203-00 AUD

    Oh, and my Rapha Pro team bibs and jersey, amazing value at $79-00 AUD.

    Its the truth, they just happened to be the last amounts paid over to the credit card

  • The espresso-repair man said that this Saeco machine could do up to 100'000 cups and this one is more than 10 years old. However, the wine cork puller on top of the machine which we bought in Italy (pulls out cork in one fluid movement, no turning handles just squeeze) has seen better days. Time to replace. Too bad Japanese do not drink wine, because I do not want to mix Groupsan with Gruppo.

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