VST Precision Filter Baskets

To make a tasty, fresh, perfectly-extracted cup of your favourite coffee, there are many variables to consider. Apart from the type and freshness of coffee beans, grind setting, and extraction time, the design specifications and craftsmanship of your espresso machine parts also play a big role in the consistency, taste, and overall quality of your morning coffee.

As the specialty coffee industry has grown, we have seen more and more companies successfully release their own unique and specifically-designed coffee machine parts that have improved workflow, aesthetic, and coffee quality. However, for some categories of machine parts, this hasn’t necessarily been the case. In the market of espresso machine filter baskets, for example, we have seen many companies create products that replicate (or have many similarities to) one of the most popular and well-loved filter basket brands – VST.

In 2011 VST introduced a new generation of filter basket called the VST Precision Filter. This series of high-quality espresso filter baskets have become the benchmark for quality espresso, and are still as much-loved today as they were when they were first released. These filter baskets have been designed and engineered to ensure a more consistent cup, by making it easier to maintain the desired quality, extraction yield and concentration of espresso shots. With a VST basket, both beginner and seasoned baristas are able to achieve more predictable and overall increased beverage quality, with no need to adjust grind settings each time a portafilter from one group is placed into another.

So, what makes a VST Precision Filter Basket so special? VST is the only filter basket manufacturer which uses a specifically-engineered machine vision system, which scans every single basket on the production line. The system was designed initially to detect and fix industry-wide issues with huge variances from filter-to-filter, even within the same manufacturing batch. This technology ensures that a VST 22g basket purchased today performs identically to one purchased in 2011; with the same hole number and the same hole measurements.

There have been tests carried out using VST’s system, where different brands of filter baskets were examined. These tests looked at the number of holes, hole size, total open area, and other statistics, and then compared the actual results with the expected results to achieve a final score. These comprehensive and patented tests are a great example of the importance of measuring products so that the industry can trust that a manufacturer’s filter meets specifications and quality expectations.

It’s important to note that even if a manufacturer claims or publishes that their product meets a certain specification or matches another brand in quality and performance, unless there is adequate measuring in place, these claims are not guaranteed. This is one of the reasons that Bombora stocks and promotes the Precision Filter Basket range from VST: each and every basket is measured within their unique machine vision system after production. This process ensures us and our customers that every VST filter basket that we sell is guaranteed to meet specifications and quality control, and be the best performing basket that you’ll use in your espresso machine.