This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Right now, the portafilter I reach for most on my Lelit Bianca is not the one that came with the machine. It is a Mischief bottomless E61 portafilter with a walnut handle, paired with the Mischief Spirit basket, a high extraction basket with around 3000 holes.
This is a short first look. I am still testing, and a full review with side-by-side shots is coming.
What it is
- Mischief portafilter: a bottomless 58 mm portafilter for E61 group machines with a walnut handle. It fits my Bianca, and it should fit most E61 machines.
- Mischief Spirit basket: a precision basket with a very high hole count (about 3000), 26 mm tall, made for 20 to 22 g doses. The listing calls it a high-density precision filter. There is also a Classic version.
Both are sold on AliExpress. The links in this article go through my site so I can keep them up to date.
Why a high extraction basket
A standard basket has a few hundred holes concentrated in the middle of the floor. A high extraction basket spreads many more holes across the whole floor. The idea is that water leaves the puck more evenly, which can let you grind finer and extract more from the coffee, especially light roasts.
The trade-off is that these baskets are less forgiving. Uneven puck prep shows up quickly, which makes a bottomless portafilter the right partner. You see every weak spot. If your shots spray, start with the 10 most common causes of a spraying bottomless portafilter.
My workflow in the video
In Perfect Shot #5 I used it with a workflow built for uniformity:
- Beans: CapriSette Fragrante
- Grinder: Eureka Mignon Single Dose with the ARO Slow Feeder Pro
- Puck prep: dosing funnel, WDT tool, Motta leveler, and Lelit tamper
- Machine: Lelit Bianca V3 at around 91 to 92 °C
- Scale: Bookoo Themis Mini
First impressions
It is my favorite combination at the moment, and the walnut handle matches the Bianca’s wood accents. Like any high extraction basket, the Spirit is not the one for a rushed morning. If your distribution is sloppy, it will show you.
If you want a proven, forgiving choice first, the IMS 58 mm basket is still a great upgrade over a stock basket.
Full review coming
I am testing how the Spirit basket compares to my IMS basket with the same beans and recipe: extraction, taste, and how picky it is about grind and puck prep. Subscribe on YouTube so you don’t miss it, and in the meantime you can find both parts here: