REVOLUTIONARY NEW SHOWER SCREENS

Decent Espresso has done it again. This time, they’ve revolutionized shower screens. 

The new “dimples” and “freckles” shower screens prevent water from merging into just a few streams, as happens with standard shower screens after some light use. Instead, the water stays in 60 separate streams.

Dimples and freckles will improve water distribution and evenness of extraction on any 58mm machine that has a center screw hole in the shower screen. At $15 each, they offer tremendous value. Please see the bottom of this post for a list of compatible machines.

Dimples has holes only on the “dimples,” while freckles has holes on and between the dimples. Freckles is conceivably slightly better for espresso, and dimples is more appropriate for filter3.

Freckles (left) and Dimples (right)

Decent developed the shower screens in response to research done by a few Decent owners regarding radial uniformity of extraction across espresso pucks, as well as the realization that Filter3 would benefit from more even water dispersion.

In 2020, Stéphane Ribes (https://www.instagram.com/the_picky_chemist) performed a brilliant experiment to estimate extraction in different areas of an espresso puck. Stéphane discovered that with a standard shower screen and basket, the outer edges of the puck extract much lower than the interior. That makes sense, as shower screens are 52mm diameter, while baskets are 58mm. Some water makes its way to the outer edge of the puck, but far more water passes through the interior areas.

Stéphane pulled shots, cut the spent pucks into three equal-sized concentric sections, and extracted each section in a cupping bowl to determine their relative remaining soluble material.

Surprisingly, Stéphane found that a standard shot extracted far more from the center of the puck than from the edges. Putting a paper filter above or below the puck improved evenness of extraction throughout the puck.

Stéphane also found, unsurprisingly, that flat tampers yield more even extraction than convex tampers do.

DE1 owner Makelipino designed the “flowtafilter” to measure water flow from different areas of the shower screen. (above)

Each section of the flowtafilter has identical surface area.

Based on Stéphane and Makelipino’s work, Decent designed dimples and freckles to dispense more water from the edges of the shower screen than the center. Since shower screens are 52mm diameter and baskets are 58mm, dispensing more water from the outer holes of the shower screen helps to increase extraction from the edges of the puck.

Click HERE to try dimples and freckles

**Dimples and freckles are compatible with machines from Astoria – Core200, Astoria – Core600, Astoria – Greta, Astoria – Hollywood, Astoria – Pratic avant, Astoria – Sabrina, Astoria – Tanya, Astra – Gourmet, Bellezza – Bellona, Breville/Sage – Barista Max Espresso, Breville/Sage – The Oracle, Breville/Sage – The Oracle Touch, Carimali – Bubble, Carimali – DivaPro, Carimali – Kicco, ECM – Casa V, Elektra – Micro Casa Leva, Elektra – Mini Verticale, Elektra – Sixties, Elektra – Verve, Faema – E91, Ferrati – FCM3605, Kazak – Rota 2, La cimbali – M100 Attiva, La cimbali – M200, La cimbali – M21, La cimbali – M26, La cimbali – M39 RE, La Pavoni – Casabar, Lelit – Anita, Lelit – Anna, Lelit – Diana, Lelit – Elizabeth, Lelit – Glenda, Lelit – Grace, Lelit – Victoria, Olympia express – Maximatic, Profitec – Pro 300, Solis – Barista Gran Gusto, Solis – Grind & Infuse Perfetta