Better Coffee with a WDT Espresso Tool - Barista Guide

In this video Luke is talking all about the WDT barista tool. He's explaining exactly what it is, what it is used for and how to use it.
WDT is an acronym for Weiss Distribution Technique but has also become known as the Weiss Distribution Tool. Essentially the WDT is a tool with fine needles that a barista uses to stir coffee grinds around while they sit in the portafilter. Stirring with the fine needles breaks up any clumps, and evens out the density of coffee within the puck. Adding this technique to the coffee puck preparation process aids in reducing channeling, and produces higher quality and more even extractions.
We hope you enjoy the video and it helps you understand what the WDT is all about.
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[@jmsaffroy]

That's a really nice intro to WDT, balanced and complete. One thing I'd add: for a home-made tool, look for acupuncture needles on one of the bigger Chinese websites. I got 20 needles for 5€, which is more than enough for 3 tools (I use 6 on one tool), and it gets cheaper if you buy more needles. :) As you said, the size matters, around 0.4mm in diameter. I cut mine to be a little bit shorter, for personal convenience, but also to get rid of the pointy ends. These thin needles are also flexible, and I think it helps. In addition to breaking clumps, I find that while using the WDT, you can get a feeling for areas in the puck that are denser than others, so you can further improve evenness. Clumping happens even with good home grinders, especially as you have to grind finer for certain beans. So I think a WDT is useful if you want to explore various beans at home. Less so if you stick to the same beans and always get fluffy grinds. Also, you mentioned the need for a funnel: I agree, and I'll add that one should look for a funnel that sits on the outer rim of the portafilter. Funnels that sit on the inside tend to leave a dent around the coffee puck, which goes against our goals. I got one for 6€ (again, Chinese online store), totally worth it. I would be surprised if WDT became a trend in cafés: in addition to the extra time spent, you lose some consistency, because it's very much a manual process. But at home, it's worth it for me.

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Yes, spot on, pretty much our findings

[@synovium]

For those who can’t afford a declumper tool, Another alternative can be a cork from the wine bottle with four or five toothpicks bedded into the cork to give us ability, and Wala, you have your tool homemade at cost you nothing.

[@thiccchungus588]

Toothpicks are way too thick

[@PM-oq8dg]

If you can't afford it, how can you afford the espresso machine?

[@lyleallan5124]

Home user : Eureka Single Dose Grinder. WDT has definitely improved my espresso. I was first advised to grind, WDT, OCD, then tamp. I get better results if I leave out the OCD. Thanks for posting your technique!

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Our pleasure

[@lyleallan5124]

@@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters HI! I rewatched the video and a couple of things I wondered about. When pulling the shot, you mentioned 'dark areas and light areas'. What does this mean? This morning I watched and the right half was blond color, the left half was a deep brown???? And, when looking at your final shot, you mentioned the 'pale' portion of the shot. Is this an over extracted portion? Maybe a video on 'color' and what to look for? Thanks....lyle

[@atticustay1]

Yeah OCD is unnecessary if you’re doing WDT

[@labarbovent]

Here I am, feeling fancy as hell, watching a WDT video.

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

😂

[@Supercazzola]

Thanks for the video. Do you need a new gasket? I saw some water dripping / escaping from your machine around the portafilter. Did you notice it ?

[@khairinarif369]

Can't wait for the comparison video 😄. I'll be waiting for it.

[@rmca11]

Boss: Why are you taking 30 mins on your tea break Me: Sorry had to WDT

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

😂

[@OneIdeaTooMany]

I never heard of WDT as a barista but when I got into coffee at home I did. I wouldn't use it in the cafe but perhaps when pulling a single origin I might but when they're mixed in with a bunch of other orders.... Yeah no.. Edit: just found out Barista Hussle are planning to bring out the autocomb which could be interesting. It would be good to get some feedback from artisti when it finally drops.

[@markostojanovic1454]

How do the needles not scrap the bottom of the portafilter??

[@etienne_latte_art_journey]

Thanks for this vid! I have been looking forward to you making one about WDT for a while! It made my extractions so much better. I was wondering if you were also going to go over that new trend of using paper filter underneath the puck that Lance Hedrick, James Hoffman and Jonathan Gagné recently talked a lot about. I have been using them for over 3 months now and it really changed my espresso game! Cheers guys

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Our pleasure, we have played with this for some time as well. With various results. We will properly look at the metal screens on top of the puck next

[@solomonliu7354]

any thoughts on wdt tools that are straight vs the ones pointing out?

[@alexlazaridisf.7276]

For a cafe you might try a Duomo the Eight. It’s what I use. I also saw a barista competitor use one a couple of weeks ago. But it’s expensive.

[@Bowser558]

Is the machine gasket faulty? There is some water leaking out from the portafilter. Incorrect dose?

[@Efimer]

from the video it seems he didn't completely locked it

[@Swimmingforlife.]

Great video again, you certainly wouldn’t have the time to use that in a cafe, can I ask you how water was also dripping from the group head while you were pulling the shot. Once again great video and full of info. Kind regards to you all from Scotland. Johnny

[@jaegerarthur6718]

you definitely can use it in a coffee shop, organisation and workflow is the key

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Yes it was leaking from the head, the seals were bedded in to a different handle, we did not pick this up till after in editing, so we left it in. The machine was moving on the bench as I tightened, NOTE don’t wipe the bench with a wet cloth before you start a video. 😜

[@alexiszurex]

erm.... im just gonna buy some acupuncture needle and made my self a cheap nice distributor needle....... why buy $33 branded shit when we can make it with only $3..... right ?

[@Micky_pearce]

I just ordered from Amazon for £4.88 😂

[@egcruzer]

I agree, even the name brand versions use acupuncture needles. I bought a cheap one on amazon and it works great.

[@dieterbo]

Great video. Would you recoment a wdt in a commercial Environment? Do you use it in your Cafe? Or does it take too much time?

[@juliancolman]

I use a Niche Zero grinder, and grind directly into the basket (and funnel/collar) which I rotate under the NZ funnel, for evenness. Accordingly, I don’t see much much, if any, clumping. Still, I have always WDT’d and am loth to give it up. So I deep and mid WDT with very small circular motions, which I more broadly spiral from outside to in. I then surface rake, with a 3D printed tool that I bought on Etsy, into which I have inserted 9 acupuncture needles of 0.35 mm each (80 mm long, including the 30mm handle portion). Still, I am always concerned about moving coffee grounds around, as I understand that less is more. This 9 needle configuration seems to move the grounds around somewhat (not hugely but it does move the grounds around abit). Should I reduce the number of needles (say to 6) or reduce the size to say 0.30mm or do both? As I do not see any pre-WDT clumps, I am wondering whether I am introducing more channeling risks than there were in the first place. Post WDT, I do see some evidence of channeling (1mm wide but not deep holes) and say 75% coverage of the basket bottom during the initial beading, on say half of the shots that I pour. Any suggestions here, as I am looking for consistency.

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

The raking seems to be a bit over kill after WDT, I assume you have pressure consistent? The raking could move grinds and make channels as is they are the same location in a basket essentially you making a groove.

[@Will14670]

I have that same WDT that I brought from eBay. I think it works better if you only use half the needles, like in every second slot. Have you guys tried that?

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

No not yet, it will really break up the clumps, a few less maybe for the middle and top would make it a little easier

[@MarkaTaylor-l1e]

Runolfsson Greens

[@stephenqueen6946]

I saw sprometheus do a controlled tds trial with what I can only guess is some sort of kruve-esque sifter. I'm always worried about workflow but have seen needles on the end of an ocd handle sold on aliexpress. The question is whether such a tool is as good as the 'ol needle stir. The other thing is that spro' didn't do tapping puck prep on all, whereas I go tap>ocd>tamp so whether tap>needles>tamp is better remains to be seen. At the least, it makes sense in that if your grinder gives out the big clumps, an ocd doesn't fix those clumps, whereas mr. slightly smaller herb grinder might actually do the job. I'd just like one inbuilt into a dosing funnel for the ultimate workflow efficiency

[@stephenqueen6946]

if you want to do more research in the chem lab we call it eddy diffusion

[@stephenqueen6946]

i'm also really impressed that you did this in one take

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Thank you, I look forward to geeking out on the TDS and the best results, I know the best results won’t be good work flow for a cafe, but excited to see the best for flavour. Cheers luke

[@jmsaffroy]

If you look at James Hoffmann's technique video, you can see that he does WDT > tap > tamp, although he forgot to mention it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpOWeqt3p5mFedE It's what I do too, mostly to check that I still have a somewhat flat surface to tamp on.

[@Presso99]

10:43'The group head is leaking.

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Yes, the machine moved on a wet bench, realised in post editing

[@bernadettantal9500]

Hi folks! What's the difference between OCD / NCD and can I use it together NCD+WDT? :)

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

No difference, the company just changed their name from Ona to Nucleus. Yep, that combo is great 👍🏻

[@EmilyJohnson-x2p]

Karlie Plain

[@ElviaHosford-t4h]

O'Kon Circles

[@PeggyRebecca-m1g]

Erdman Glens

[@yskwong]

You need to replace that gasket :)

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Wet bench = slippery machine = leak. 😂

[@yskwong]

@@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters lol ... cheers mate

[@vancitycanucks]

Try normcore needle distributor. OCD and WDT in one

[@basicPROcreator]

Channeling is my big problem. I can't make it perfect. 😪

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

You can do it! Just look at these tools and put them into play. Cheers Luke

[@tvbronic5863]

Hello there I'm a barista too just started an KZbin channel of my own ... Any help for it to grow ?advise ?

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Keep making content and sharing all you know

[@tvbronic5863]

Got it ☺️ thank you very much

[@BrendaGarcia-q9s]

Roob Stream

[@pricecampbell]

But you got channeling

[@storiestobesung]

what ''weiss'' word means? its a name? Thank you

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

It’s a persons name

[@storiestobesung]

@@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters Ok, but who is he?

[@MCDreng]

@@storiestobesung he's no one "important" like a celebrity in the industry, but he's the guy who came up with the idea to use needles to distribute the grounds back in 2005

[@tedgoldman9121]

Some feedback: The way you were swinging around the WDT and leaving the points up on the bench is a recipe for getting stabbed- please remind people to be careful. I’ve switched to the Idroprep tamper and that is proving to be a great technology. There is no more WDT and distribution. Give it a try!

[@ArtistiCoffeeRoasters]

Thanks, we will check it out

[@Hood.Housekeeping]

We need to let Darwin be in full affect. If you get stabbed and you don’t have enough self awareness to no get stabbed the first time and subsequently second time you shouldn’t be operating an espresso machine and definitely not consuming caffeine. Let people learn lessons without wasting everyone else’s time.

[@OneIdeaTooMany]

If people need to be told that, I worry about them using anything sharp. A wdt that uses acupuncture needles is going to be 0.3mm in diameter. If you make a wdt using the cork, putting it down needle side up is the most convenient way to store it. Don't store it on its side or you risk bending the needles and not wdt'ing the entire bed of coffee.

[@moonlighthomestead4259]

@tedgoldman9121, how are things going with the Idroprep? After 5 months do you still like it?

[@Fitzrovialitter]

He really believes the drivel he is spouting!