E&B Lab Launches All In One Basket for Espresso, Filter-Style Coffee and Tea

The All In One filter basket from Italy-based E&B Lab. All images courtesy of E&B Lab.

Italian coffee equipment brand Espresso & Brewing Lab (E&B Lab) has launched the All In One filter basket for espresso machine portafilters.

The new basket is designed for making espresso extractions, filter-style coffee, tea or cascara brews on any flow- or pressure-controllable espresso machine with a 58-millimeter group.

Available in heights of 22, 25 and 28 millimeters to accommodate different doses for different drinks styles, the ridgeless stainless steel basket features a fine mesh interior screen supported by a thicker exterior screen at its base.

A photo-etched interior membrane that filters down to 150 microns is welded into the base of the basket, while a thicker exterior screen contains 257 larger holes and maintains rigidity without encumbering flow, according to the brand.

Simona Rey, a certified Q Grader and cofounder and head roaster for Northern Italian coffee company Hub Coffee Lab, contributed to the research and development of the new E&B product. Rey told DCN that the product is designed to expand the versatility of espresso groups in Italian cafe settings, where demand for filter-style coffee has increased.

“In Italy, filter coffee is not a big thing, so if you want to dedicate space and a barista for doing hand-brewing in a morning where everybody’s rushing and wants a 30-second espresso, it’s difficult to manage,” Rey told DCN. “It’s much better to make them a fresh filter coffee just using your espresso machine. That also allows you to offer them many different types of beans, — you don’t need to tell them ‘This is the coffee of the day, the batch brew, and that’s it.’ It’s a really useful tool for the barista to have.”

The midsize 25-millimeter height All In One is recommended for brewing cascara or tea. The company suggests dosing either 4 grams of cascara or 3 grams of loose leaf tea to brew a 200-milliliter beverage on an espresso machine.

For all non-espresso applications, the All In One is intended for use on machines capable of slow, low-pressure infusions, such as machines with automated pressure and/or flow profiling capabilities, or E61 group heads equipped with manually operated flow-restricting valves.

“[Brewing filter coffee with the All In One] You will have the same result as filtering with any type of metal filter,” Rey said of the resulting cups. “If you use a metal filter for the AeroPress for example, you will have the same results.”

E&B Lab is a sub-brand of IMS, an espresso filter basket and shower screen manufacturer based near Milan that was founded in 1946. In the 2000s, IMS began revisiting espresso basket designs in response to new techniques being favored by professional and competitive baristas. The company launched its first “Competition Series” baskets in 2011, and in 2016 created E&B Lab as a separate brand devoted to the niche product category.

“We had so many requests for professional precision baskets and shower screens,” said Rey. “We decided to create a side project which would involve the precision baskets, shower screens, but also any additional tools regarding the brewing methods.”

Today E&B Lab makes manual pourover equipment, AeroPress filters, stovetop moka brewers and other accessories in addition to its espresso screens and baskets.

This month, the brand also launched a magnetic espresso puck screen for use in cafes. The dual-layered screen comes with a small handheld magnet baristas can use to easily remove the screen after brewing. The screen is also transparent to allow baristas to evaluate how clean it is.

Meanwhile, the IMS-brand Competition Series range recently expanded with the Big Bang line of precision espresso baskets. The launch was part of a recent boom in new approaches to espresso basket geometry, hole pattern and hole shape fueled by IMS and other companies such as Weber Workshops (USA), Wafo (Taiwan) and Pesado (Australia).

Rey said IMS is currently studying how new 3D laser perforation technology might be applied in espresso basket design and manufacturing.

“IMS is always open to any new idea,” said Rey. “We are always trying to make things easier for the barista.”

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