Frequently Asked Questions
In some cases bottomless portafilters are interchangeable between brands, such as the Nuova Simonelli bottomless portafilter, this one is interchangeable with the one used on most Victoria Arduino espresso machines. This has to that it is the same brand.
You can add any filterbasket to the bottomless portafilter. But in most cases a deep double filterbasket is installed. This has to do that there is no bottom in the way.
In almost most cases bottomless portafilters are made from brass which has been chrome plated. A few brands make bottomless portafilters from stainless steel. But that is a minority
Bottomless portafilters start as regular casted portafilters. But during the machining process the bottoms are cut out of the casting, which creates a bottomless portafilter. After this the portafilters are sanded and polished into a mirror finish and chrome plated.
No, the portafilters used on Breville, Sage and Solis espresso machines are unique to those brands. And are also a lot smaller then the standard 58mm portafilters, which are used for instance on E61 brewing groups.
Bottomless naked portafilter
Nuova Simonelli bottomless portafilter
SanRemo bottomless portafilter
Rocket bottomless portafilter
Bottomless portafilter suitable for La Cimbali
Nuova Simonelli/Victoria Arduino bottomless portafilter
Bezzera bottomless portafilter
Conti bottomless portafilter
La Carimali bottomless portafilter
Bottomless portafilter suitable for La Spaziale
Wega bottomless portafilter
Faema bottomless portafilter
What is a bottomless portafilter?
Well to say it plain simple. You take a regular portafilter and you drill/machine the bottom out of it. And now you have a naked portafilter. The benefit of this type of portafilter is that the coffee does not have any contact with the portafilter. Seen it flows from the filterbasket into the coffee cup.
Naked portafilter
The naked portafilter, or allso called a bottomless portafilter, is nowadays available in a variety of sizes with various types of coffee filterbasket. The advantage of having no bottom in your portafilter is that you now can also use a taller filterbasket, which can contain more ground coffee.
Most common type of bottomless portafilter
58mm bottomless portafilter
The 58mm portafilters are the most common types of portafilter. This all starts with the Faema portafilters, seen the e61 style of brewing group is for a lot of espresso machine manufacturers the standard brewing group. You can find this size on brands such as Rocket, Bezzera, Nuova Simonelli and Vibiemme. Note: this does not mean that they are all interchangeable with each other, seen the thickness of the ears can differ.
How to clean your bottomless portafilter
The cleaning of your bottomless portafilter is a lot easier then cleaning a regular portafilter. Seen there is no spout and bottom anymore. It is still good to clean your naked portafilter.
Just add Puly caff powder to a small container and let the filterbasket and bottomless portafilter body soak into it. Never submerge the handle of the portafilter in the water.