The Filter Sandwich (TFS), which has grown to fandom due to Scott Rao (and others), is an exciting brewing method in which we place a filter on the bottom & top of the espresso puck. The top filter is assumed to distribute water better and thus reduce channeling, while the bottom filter prevents fines from migrating to the bottom and blocking flow. These two beneficial factors together allow us to grind finer and increase extraction yield without nasty results.
When I started testing out TFS, I quickly grew annoyed with having to trim my Aeropress filters to fit nicely on the bottom and top of my pucks. Further, it is seemingly impossible to get a true circle that doesn’t leave any holes on the bottom or grounds on the top unexposed. I began looking at Whatman filters, which Rao has used before, as the bottom filter, but I couldn’t justify paying $25+ for 100 paper filters
After some digging on Amazon, I landed on the Fiskars Circle Cutter. With this circle cutter, I take v60 filters and cut ~55mm and ~58mm circles, the prior for the bottom filter and the latter for the top. The results so far have been splendid (I do not have a refractometer, so I can’t give specifics on how they compare to other filters). One could easily use this circle cutter with a multitude of different paper types, such as Chemex filters, etc. Also, this is more versatile for those using 55mm baskets, IMS baskets, stock baskets, etc.
This isn’t groundbreaking stuff by any means, but I hope it may save someone some time & hassle in trying out TFS.
~ colby