A bottomless portafilter is one of the most striking pieces of equipment you can use in your espresso setup. The "naked" or bottomless style of the portafilter, which exposes the flow of espresso through the filter, can be fascinating to watch while your espresso machine is at work. Despite their popularity today for aesthetic purposes, the origin of bottomless portafilters is actually rather practical: they were designed to allow baristas to "debug" their espresso shots, easily identifying channelling or other signs of uneven extraction. Bottomless portafilters remain an invaluable training and diagnostic tool today for this reason, and the fact that they're sure to catch the eye of any guest you prepare coffee for certainly doesn't hurt.

Unfortunately, being such a specialised piece of equipment, these portafilters are typically only manufactured for standard sized group heads. Owners of kitchenware espresso machines with non-standard sized group heads would typically be out of luck. That is, until now; this high-quality bottomless portafilter from Normcore is one of the first of its kind: a bottomless portafilter that fits 51mm filter baskets, designed for use with DeLonghi espresso machines. Made from stainless steel, and featuring an aluminium alloy handle, it's built to the same high-quality standard as all of Normcore's accessories. If you're looking to get the absolute best out of your DeLonghi espresso machine, this bottomless portafilter is sure to serve you well and look great doing it.

Normcore DeLonghi Bottomless Portafilter features & specifications

• Designed for DeLonghi 51mm group head
• 3-ear design fits only DeLonghi Dedica Style EC685, EC680 and SMEG ECF01
• Bottomless design (no spouts)
• Makes cleaning filter baskets easier
• Assists with the diagnosis of extraction issues
• Comes with triple-shot basket
• Portafilter material: 304 stainless steel
• Handle material: aluminium alloy

A note on distribution, channelling & spraying

Using a bottomless or naked portafilter can be a humbling experience. If your tamp and distribution aren't exactly right, not only can you get a wonky extraction, you may even experience some spray. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with your portafilter. It, unfortunately, means that there's something wrong with your puck preparation.

Those good old spouts that your original portafilter came with mask those issues, for better or for worse, but now that you've upgraded, you're seeing the naked truth, and sometimes it ain't pretty.

How do you fix it, you may be wondering? Well, it's all about even distribution and an even tamp. You can achieve this without any extra accessories, but we have some tools that might help with the distribution part at least. These will help you make your extraction Instagram-video-worthy and your espresso exceptionally tasty:

• Normcore Wire Distribution Tool
• Brew Tool Coffee Needle