Espresso Accessories: What Is Worth Buying First, by Portafilter Size
Buy a scale first. Everything else depends on what your machine already includes and on your portafilter size, so check both before you order. A tamper that fits, a milk pitcher if you drink milk and a thin-needle stirring tool come next. Dosing funnels, knock boxes and kits are convenience, and they can wait.
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Start with a scale, because it is the one tool that the Breville boxes we checked do not include and the one you need for dialing in. Next, check your portafilter size: tools for 51, 54 and 58 mm do not swap. Then add a tamper or pitcher if the one in the box falls short. Stirring tools, funnels and knock boxes come later.
On this page
The accessory market is built around the idea that you need everything at once. You do not. A scale changes how you work from the first shot, and most of the rest either came in the box or solves a problem you may never have.
One thing to know about this page: for the tools below we only have the Amazon listings, so we name them as options and do not make any of them a pick. Our recommendation here is about the order to buy in. Values from a listing are marked as such.
Maestri House S2 scale
A shot scale with timer and 0.1 g steps per the listing: the tool that makes dialing in repeatable.
Seller data only: We only have the Amazon listing for this product. We list it as an option, not as a recommendation.
Why here: Listed with a timer and 0.1 g steps, which covers both the dose and the yield. Any scale with those two features does the same job.
Best for: Anyone who wants to weigh dose and yield
- Timer and 0.1 g precision, per listing title
- We only have the listing
- Type
- Shot scale with timer
- Price class
- Budget
Check your machine first
Two minutes with the parts list can save you money. Breville's pages list these items in the box:
| Machine | Tamper | Milk jug | Dosing funnel | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barista Express | Yes, built in | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
| Bambino | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
Then check your portafilter size, because tamper, funnel and basket all depend on it.
| Portafilter | Machines, with source | Tools from our list |
|---|---|---|
| 51 mm | CASABREWS CM5418 Basic, per its manual. Amazon's title says CM5418 only, so check yours | 51 mm kit* |
| 54 mm | Barista Express, Impress, Touch, Bambino, Bambino Plus (Breville); Barista Pro (its US manual) | Breville 54 mm funnel*, 54 mm kit*, Normcore 53.3 mm tamper* |
| 58 mm | Breville Dual Boiler (Breville); Gaggia Classic (Gaggia); Rancilio Silvia (per retailers) | Normcore 58 mm bottomless*, listed for Gaggia |
Breville's product page does not state the Barista Pro's portafilter size, but its US instruction book lists a 54 mm stainless steel portafilter and an integrated removable 54 mm tamper. On a budget machine, take the size from the manual or measure the basket before you order anything. Measuring beats a guess from a listing.
What to buy, in order
| Order | Tool | Why | Skip it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scale with timer | Weighs dose and yield, the numbers you compare between shots | You already own a 0.1 g scale |
| 2 | Tamper | Keeps the press level | The one in your box fits and feels fine |
| 3 | Milk pitcher | Lets you steam the amount you drink | The jug in your box suits your drinks, or you drink straight espresso |
| 4 | WDT tool | Breaks up clumps before you tamp | Your grounds do not clump |
| 5 | Dosing funnel | Keeps grounds off the counter | Your machine includes one, or you make no mess |
| 6 | Knock box | Saves carrying pucks to the trash | Your trash can is close by |
Five of those tools side by side:
| Seller data onlyMaestri House S2 scale | Seller data onlyNormcore V4 tamper | Seller data onlyStainless milk pitcher | Seller data only7-needle WDT tool | Breville 54 mm funnel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Shot scale with timer | Spring-loaded tamper | Milk pitcher | WDT tool | Dosing funnel |
| Fits | – | 53.3 mm, per listing | – | – | Breville 54 mm portafilters, five models named |
| Price class | Budget | Budget | Budget | Budget | Budget |
| Best for | Anyone who wants to weigh dose and yield | 53.3 mm baskets. Check your own portafilter size first | Any machine with a steam wand | Fine grinds that clump, whatever the basket size | Breville Barista Express, Pro, Touch, Express Impress and Touch Impress owners |
| On Amazon(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon | On Amazon(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon | On Amazon(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon | On Amazon(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon | On Amazon(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon |
The tools one by one
Start at the top and stop when your shots and your counter give you no more reason to buy.
Scale: the first buy
Breville's guide says you need a scale for both the dry grounds and the brewed espresso. A timer on the same device saves a second gadget. The Maestri House S2* is listed with both. The Subminimal SubScale* is a dosing cup with a built-in scale and display, per listing, aimed at people who single dose.
Tamper: fit before force
Press until the coffee stops compressing, and keep it level. Force above that adds nothing measurable in the one test we found, a single roaster's run at Seven Miles. So levelness and fit matter more than any pressure figure. The Normcore V4* is spring-loaded, per listing, and that listing sells its 53.3 mm size for tapered 54 mm Breville baskets, so read the fit notes for your model. Our tamper page has a size chart.
Milk pitcher: only if you steam
You only need one if the jug in your box does not suit you. The stainless pitcher range* runs from 8.5 oz to 66 oz, per listing. Choose by how much milk you make at once. A flat white uses less milk than a latte, so if that is your drink, a small pitcher is the natural choice.
WDT tool: for clumps you can see
WDT stands for Weiss Distribution Technique: stirring the grounds with thin needles to break up clumps. Cameron and colleagues (2020) read falling extraction at very fine grinds as a sign of uneven flow, which is the problem WDT aims at. We only read that paper's abstract and found no study of WDT itself. The 7-needle tool* is listed with 0.35 mm needles and spares, and it sits in the budget class.
A scale first. The rest when you know why.
Dosing funnel, dosing cup and blind shaker
A dosing funnel sits on the portafilter and keeps grounds in the basket while you dose and stir. Breville includes one with the Barista Express. The Breville 54 mm funnel* is sold on its own: Breville's page names the Barista Express, Pro, Touch, Express Impress and Touch Impress. It doesn't name the Bambino, so check the fit first.
A dosing cup catches the grounds before they reach the basket. A blind shaker is a small container you shake to break up clumps before pouring. Retailers present it as an alternative to stirring. We have no data on either, so we would try these after everything above.
Knock box
It holds spent pucks between shots. The Breville Knock Box 10* is stainless steel and holds 10 pucks, per Sur La Table, and fits best if you pull several shots a morning. Otherwise a trash can does the same job for free.
Accessory kits
Kits make sense if you start from nothing and the size matches. The 51 mm kit* lists a distributor, a tamper, a WDT tool and a funnel. The 54 mm kit* lists a tamping station, a knock box and a tamper. Compare those lists with what your machine already includes, because Breville buyers may end up with duplicates.
Bottomless portafilter
A bottomless portafilter lets you see how the shot runs. It is a diagnostic tool, so it can wait until you are dialing in with confidence. The Normcore 58 mm* is listed for the Gaggia Classic Pro, Carezza and Cubika Plus, so check the fit against your model. See also our Gaggia Classic Pro page.
Water: a free upgrade to check first
Before you buy another tool, look at your water. Breville's guide suggests filtered or mineral water for a cleaner taste. The SCAA water standard of 21 November 2009, which we read as a copy on a third-party server, gives these targets:
| Characteristic | Target | Acceptable range |
|---|---|---|
| TDS | 150 mg/L | 75 to 250 mg/L |
| Calcium hardness | 68 mg/L | 17 to 85 mg/L |
| Total alkalinity | 40 mg/L | At or near 40 mg/L |
| pH | 7.0 | 6.5 to 7.5 |
| Sodium | 10 mg/L | At or near 10 mg/L |
Later guidance from the SCA may differ, and we could not reach its own page. For descaling and filters, follow your machine's manual.
Common accessory mistakes
- Buying by “54 mm” alone. Tamper and basket sizes do not always match the portafilter's label. Read the fit notes.
- Ordering before opening the box. Your machine may already include a tamper, a jug or a funnel.
- Buying tools before a good grinder. No stirring tool fixes a grinder that cannot grind fine enough. Start with an espresso-capable grinder.
- Buying a heavier tamper to fix a fast shot. Try a finer grind first, as Breville's guide suggests for fast shots.
- Adding two tools at once. You will not know which one helped. Change one thing, then taste.
Which one to buy now
If you own no scale yet → Maestri House S2 scale · Seller data only
View(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on AmazonIf the tamper in your box is the part you dislike and you use a Breville → Normcore V4 tamper · Seller data only
View(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on AmazonIf you see clumps in fine grounds → 7-needle WDT tool · Seller data only
View(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on AmazonIf grounds keep landing on your counter around a 54 mm basket → Breville 54 mm funnel
View(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on AmazonIf you have not bought your machine yet
Still choosing the machine these tools will go with? Our guide for beginners sets out the buying order, and the full guide to semi-automatic machines starts from what you drink. These four questions end in one machine:
We compare by listing, spec sheet and published sources, and we do not test these tools ourselves. How we compare explains what “Seller data only” means on the cards above.
Asked at the bar
What accessories do I need for an espresso machine?
A scale is the one we would buy first, and an espresso-capable grinder if your machine has none built in. Check what came in the box before you buy more: Breville's Barista Express and Bambino both include a tamper and a milk jug. After that, buy only what solves a problem you can name, such as clumps, mess or a jug of the wrong size.
What size tamper do I need for a 54 mm Breville?
Check your basket first. Breville calls both its portafilter and its supplied tamper 54 mm, but Normcore's listing sells a 53.3 mm tamper for 54 mm Breville baskets, because those baskets taper. We have not checked the fit ourselves, so read the seller's fit notes for your exact model.
Do I need a WDT tool?
Not on day one. WDT means stirring the grounds with thin needles to break up clumps. Cameron and colleagues (2020) link falling extraction at very fine grinds to uneven flow, which is the problem WDT aims at, but we found no study of WDT itself. It is cheap, so try it when fine grinds clump.
Do I need a dosing funnel?
Only if grounds land on your counter. A funnel sits on the portafilter and keeps grounds in the basket while you dose and stir. Breville includes one with the Barista Express, while the Bambino's parts list does not name one. Funnels are specific to portafilter size, so match it to yours.
Is a blind shaker or dosing cup worth it?
It is optional. A dosing cup catches the grounds before they go into the basket, and a blind shaker is a small container you shake to break up clumps. Retailers promote shakers as an alternative to stirring. We have no measurements, so treat this as a later experiment.
Are espresso accessory kits worth buying?
They can be if you are starting from nothing and the size matches. A kit bundles tools for one portafilter size, so check that first, and check whether your machine already includes some of them. We only have the listings for the kits on this page, so we cannot speak to the quality of each tool.
Where this comes from
- Breville: how to dial in espresso
- Breville: BES870 Barista Express product page
- Breville: BES450 Bambino product page
- Breville: Barista Pro instruction book BES878_USCM_IB_Q26 (US, Canada, Mexico)
- Breville: the Dosing Funnel
- CASABREWS: CM5418 Basic instruction manual (copy on the maker's store server)
- Seven Miles Coffee Roasters: tamping test
- Cameron et al.: Systematically improving espresso (Matter, 2020), abstract only
- SCAA water standard of 21 November 2009 (third-party copy)
Next round
- Dial in espressoHow to dial in espresso: fix the dose, set a yield, then change only the grind until time and taste line up. Steps, a symptom table and the exception to the rule.
- For beginnersThe beginner espresso machine to buy first, and in which order: machine, espresso-capable grinder, scale. Our pick is the Breville Bambino, with budget options.
Barista ExpressBreville Barista Express BES870XL: grinder, PID, 54 mm portafilter and care from Breville's own documents, and who should buy something else.
Gaggia Classic ProGaggia Classic Pro and E24: Gaggia's own values, the manuals on steam and descaling, what mods risk for the warranty, and who should pick something else.
Espresso grindersWhat makes a grinder suitable for espresso: burrs, small steps and clean dosing. One clear pick, the alternatives sorted by routine, and honest notes on the data.
semiautomaticespressomachine.com Editorial Team
Espresso gear & shot craft
We are the editorial team at semiautomaticespressomachine.com. We read maker spec sheets, manuals, standards and published research on espresso and turn them into plain-English buying advice, with sources on every page. We do not run lab tests, and we say so openly.
- Spec sheets & standards read
- Sources on every page
- No lab tests – stated openly
- Publisher details in the imprint