Reg Barber Coffee Tampers

Reg Barber

Over 20 years ago, Reg Barber was inspired to create a better coffee tamper after using a flimsy, plastic tamper. Today, he is known as the man who revolutionized the coffee tamper into a modern, must-have piece of equipment for every barista. His coffee journey began in 1995 when he decided to open his own cafe, and went to Seattle, Washington for training. During his training, he was introduced to the existing tools for tamping coffee, but they were either poorly designed plastic tampers, or aluminum cylinders that were awkward and uncomfortable to use. Reg knew he could make a better tamper, and when he returned home to his workshop in Victoria, British Columbia he began designing what would become the modern tamper.

Many years have passed since then, however one thing remains the same: Reg's commitment to innovation and understanding the needs of baristas has helped him to constantly evolve his designs and offer the best in class coffee tampers. The business has also evolved and grown, prompting his daughter Julia to join the team in 2008. She started engraving and packing tampers to understand the business from the ground up, and quickly moved into sales where she excelled due to her experience in the advertising industry. Today, Julia is the General Manager and holds her level 1 barista certification and IDP certificate with the Specialty Coffee Association of America. She travels to most US barista and specialty coffee events, as well as going to Europe every year for the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe’s event with her dad, Reg.