Soon after I started my journey into espresso, I realized, I didn’t have enough room. I think this would be true regardless of how much space I had available, I’d likely fill it with espresso/coffee related paraphernalia. I also realized, portafilters are heavy and I probably should avoid dropping them. Neither the portafilter nor my tile was going to be very forgiving if I kept seeing if the portafilter felt like bouncing today.

My real problem was my portafilters didn’t have a place to just “stay out of the way”. Moving them around during prep or during the time that I was puttering in the kitchen just wasn’t convenient. I don’t like leaving the portafilter in the grouphead when I’m not using it (or at least pre-heating it), but I’m embarrassed how long it took me to discover the portafilter. A solution I find to be elegant in its simplicity.

I watch a LOT of YouTube videos dealing with espresso creation and follow Espresso Outlet’s channel along with many others. I was in the market for a new grinder and had heard a lot about the DF54. Barrett Ellis dropped a video going over it in detail. I loved the machine on first sight and purchased one. But more importantly for this review, I noticed (though I now know they’d been there in previous videos and I was simply not paying attention) that there were several portafilters hanging on the wall. Simply and gloriously, just hanging there, out of the way but ready to be used.

That’s the first time I saw the Portakeeper and it wasn’t long until l ended up with a couple of my own. The Portakeeper comes in several sizes. Espresso Outlet sells models to accommodate both 54mm and 58mm portafilters.

By the time I purchased these, I had also purchased a counter for my espresso setup. Rather than mount them to the wall, I mounted two Portakeepers to the side of my counter. After I use my machine daily, I wash my portafilter and give it a brief wipe with a drying cloth. However, one of the things I didn’t anticipate but immediately became one of my favorite features is that when the portafilter is put in the Portakeeper, its sits completely perpendicular to the cabinet. Then handle of your portafilter will not touch your wall at all. If you haven’t dried your basket as well as you might have, the moisture will not touch your wall but empty straight down! Though my baskets are relatively dry by the time I hang my portafilter, this still made me very happy as I didn’t want to introduce any moisture to my wall at all.

I’ve loved my Portakeeper holders. I’ve seen pictured holders for V60 papers, though I do not see them currently listed on the Espresso Outlet site. I have a feeling one of these will be joining my collection soon.

If you’re not bothered by loose portafilters lying around the house, I applaud you. However, if you are, I simply can’t imagine a better solution than the Portakeeper portafilter holder!

An enthusiastic 2 out of 2 Ravens!

How about another giveaway?! Folks, I had so much fun with the last giveaway, I’d like to do it again. I will give two lucky commenters here on the blog a Portakeeper! You do need to live in the U.S. to participate. I apologize for this, but with the current state of the world, I learned the hard way with our last giveaway that international shipping is too expensive at the moment. How do you get in on the drawing? Just leave a comment! I will randomly draw two winners on Friday, May 9, purchase and send directly to you a Portakeeper! Thanks for reading!