You could be looking for a naked portafilter for your Sage espresso machine for a few reasons.
It could be that you've seen what naked, bottomless portafilter shots look like, and you want to add that level of theatre to your daily espresso workflow.
Maybe you've seen that bottomless portafilters are a good dialling in tool, because they show you clues about what's going on with the extraction that you might not have tasted in the cup.
Then again it could be for the more practical reason, that it allows you more space on the drip tray so you can use your favourite cups.
In any case, this one from Normcore is one of the best selling more premium options in the UK when it comes to Sage 54mm compatible naked portafilters.
Features and Benefits:
• Compatible with Sage 54mm espresso machines
• Anodised Aluminium handle
• Stainless steel portafilter head & basket
• Well weighted and ergonomically shaped
Just to quickly go through the reasons I mentioned earlier, when it comes to why you might be considering a naked portafilter, I'd just like to make sure you know what the reality of the matter is here vs the theory for all of these potential reasons for buying a bottomless portafilter.
Cool to Watch!
If you've watched Instagram shots of mesmerizing looking bottomless espresso shots, there's a secret to creating that kind of content, which is that you don't see the five or six attempts leading up to that perfect looking shot.
If you did see that, what you'd see is that first few shots when dialling in a new bean, or even just dialling in for your first shot of the day, don't look quite so cool.
Normcore even put a warning about this on the box, making sure customers realise that the messy looking shots they see when they start using a naked portafilter, being so different from what they've seen online, isn't a fault of the portafilter.
It's simply that naked shots are just that, naked, there's no masking what's going on in the basket by the bottom of the portafilter and the spouts, as they're not there.
So when you're not yet well dialled in, you'll get spurters, jets of espresso coming from the basket and making a mess, often completely missing the cup, even missing the drip tray.
Even if you are well dialled in you'll sometimes get this, and depending on the coffee beans you use, you might notice that your shots don't look as mesmerizing as the ones you've watched on Instagram etc.,
If you're using medium to dark roasts, you'll probably find that once you're dialled in, it does look very cool, but you might not have time to watch it as you'll be busy cleaning up the kitchen! ;-).
Dialling In Tool
This is true, being able to see how the espresso is leaving the basket does give you clues as to what's happening with the extraction, especially once you've spent some time learning what you're looking for.
The only thing to note about this, is that this would only really be of benefit if you have fairly lofty goals when it comes to developing your home barista skills and your palate.
If that's not the case, and all you want to do is make the best tasting coffee you can right now, in terms of what your taste buds are currently able to detect, then using a naked portafilter as a dialling in aid means that you're worrying about stuff you can't taste.
If your aim is simply the best tasting coffee, I'd recommend focusing on taste, and not being concerned about whether the look of the flow of espresso via the bottomless portafilter points to potential issues - because if you focus is purely great tasting espresso, who cares about any of that if you can't taste it in the cup?
It's also worth pointing out that what we think looks like channelling or under extraction, for example, can sometimes just come down to the beans were using, especially when using light roasts.
More Drip Tray Space
If you have an espresso machine with limited vertical space between the spouts of your portafilter, and the drip tray, especially by the time you've got the cup on your scales, using a bottomless portafilter does gain you a bit of extra cup height.
If your favourite cups just so happen to be almost the the same height as the available dript tray space, or maybe this is the case once they're raised by your scales - you may find that nearly all spurters end up in the cup, so you don't get much mess even when you're not dialled in.
Do I Need to Spend This Much on The Normcore Portafilter?
So the Normcore 54mm naked portafilter is one of the more premium options on the market for Sage compatible 54mm bottomless portafilters.
Normcore have developed a decent brand, it means they don't have to make do with the crappy margins they probably made do with when they were first growing their brand trust.
From your perspective, it means you're investing in a known brand, and that does mean you're paying a bit more than you have to, but to be fair, this is a very good quality product, it feels really nice in the hand, and it looks like it'll last a long time.
If you're considering saving a few quid on a slightly cheaper product, you will find them ranging from around £30, but we're not necessarily comparing apples with apples, as this is a very nice quality product, clearly built to last.