Dining and Cooking
Espresso spraying everywhere [Breville Bambino, Normcore 54mm Basket]
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Espresso spraying everywhere [Breville Bambino, Normcore 54mm Basket]


Was so excited for my Normcore 18g bottomless portafilter after reading a lot of the reviews on here. Loaded it up into my Breville Bambino, and just had an absolute disaster. Multiple attempts, spraying everywhere, undrinkable shots. Anyone have experience with this? 54mm basket.

Thanks in advance.



by pacem90

43 Comments

  2. _Logham_

    Congrats on your initiation, OP. Welcome to r/espresso.

  3. TheWarCow

    The portafilter won’t change the extraction behavior if you are still using the same basket.
    If your shots are suddenly worse now, it doesn’t have anything to do with this change.
    Usually the visuals of a bottomless extraction don’t mean too much but in this extreme case it’s a sign to improve puck prep.

  4. Threepwood80

    ![gif](giphy|fMyZUpqFinZvMfVWb7|downsized)

  6. reuben_iv

    I should call her

    also grind finer/use fresher beans

  7. ApoloniusPfannestiil

    fine the grinder! probably quite the difference in the basket so you need to adjust a bit.

  8. Informal-Force7417

    Dang. You using a puck screen on top? As that can help

  9. LucidTA

    It almost certainly looked like that before, but you just couldn’t see it. The portafilter just holds the basket, it won’t change the shot in any way.

  10. Everton-1878

    Crikey that makes me like a barista world champion. This has a problem with the grind setting or tampering or both

  11. anonthrowaway262626

    I have the 58mm 18G Normcore and find that I need to use 20G and grind finer then I normally would for an IMS basket. I’m no expert but once I increased my dose everything went so much smoother and a lot easier to dial in. Good luck!

  12. distressedminnie

    way. way. way to coarse. water is just *spewing* out under pressure. it should take 25-30 seconds to brew espresso that’s 2x weight of grounds put in, in grams (after pre-infusion time). then adjust based on taste

  13. rkzhao

    It feels very fitting to end 2025 with a spurting normcore on a Bambino.

    Happy New Year and may your grinds be finer in 2026.

  14. Tempe556

    First time? Same thing happened to me. Now the meme…grind finer.

  15. xdyldo

    I assume you’ve got it from the other comments but you have to grind a lot finer

  16. DanishTango

    Condolences. May 2026 bring you peace and proper pulls.

  18. obiedge

    This answers the question of whether the espresso machine came yet.

  20. PineappleDevil

    try actually grinding the beans next time instead of just throwing them whole in the basket.

  24. KettchupIsDead

    Time to unsubscribe from r/espresso until I’m far away enough from Dec 25th

  26. DecisiveVictory

    I knew the answer even without watching the video.

  27. cr01300

    Sometimes this happens if you bury the roasted coffee beans in the Sahara desert for 30 years, then use those beans in an espresso machine without grinding them. Especially if you glue the beans together to make a single mega-bean.

  31. Shot_Basis_1367

    That’s totally fine mate, leave as is

  32. dazza555

    In my experience a little spray is inevitable but I have found that using a wdt tool and a slow pre-infusion before reaching full pressure mitigates spray. I also use a puck screen so that may play a role too although in a few tests it didn’t make a noticeable difference apart from keeping my group clean.

    Ensure you have a good grinder and are dialed in properly, too fine and you will get sprays, too coarse and they will taste empty, under extracted. Lastly an even tamp is important, you want the water to go through the whole puck evenly so any unevenness in your prep and tamp will hinder this and produce spray.

  38. 420BongMaster

    Your beans are shit and your grind is trash. FIND GRINER

  40. wrt-wtf-

    Just stop using open bottom baskets – it’s a scam. You either over extract or under extract.

    Under extract – yucky flavour is sharp and disappears out of your mouth, like wasabi is for hot.

    Over extracted – yucky flavour, just won’t go away, you can still taste it 15 – 45 minutes later. Like hot chilli that just sticks around for way too long.

    2:1 or 2.5:1 of bean weight to espresso weight. Start at 2:1.

    The open basket helps with potential channeling. Again, you can see this on the puck, you don’t need the open basket and the mess.

  42. Inevitable-Handle215

    This machine got asked about this same problem everytime, grind finer and tamp harder

  43. yamyam46

    That’s called channelling check videos of how to dial an espresso shot