Why Grind Matters for Excellent Coffee at Home

The two items I that think are worth spending money on if you are going to drink speciality coffee are (1) high quality whole bean coffee and (2) an adjustable coffee grinder to be able to control the size of the grind. Once you have a coffee grinder at home, you will need to choose the right grind that matches your brewing method and here is a general guide to help with that.

When coffee is ground, it is on the scale of fine to coarse with some having a numerical scale from 1-10 with 1 being the finest grind and 10 being the coarsest. So let break it down into each type of grind.

Ground Coffee

Fine grind: this is ideal for espresso shots and should have the consistency of sugar or table salt. Coffee extraction for espresso relies on the uses the internal pressure that builds up as the water is pushed through the grinds. Too coarse a grind will lead to a short extraction time and a watery espresso, whereas too fine a grind will lead to a longer extraction time with a bitter, astringent, and harsh flavor. The ideal range for an espresso is to have a grind fine enough that it takes between 25-30 seconds to reach a espresso weight out of 2:1. That means if you start with 18 grams of ground espresso the final shot should weight 36 grams.

Pulling a shot of delicious espresso.

Fine-Medium grind: This might start at a 2 and go until a 4 setting on your grinder, having a consistency of white sugar to beach sand. This grind is ideal for pour over coffee as it allows for enough contact time with the hot water to extract the flavor in about 2-3 minutes. Additionally, this setting is also ideal for an AeroPress.

A medium-fine grind is ideal for pour over coffee that is popular at speciality coffee shops.

Medium grind: Typically, this is a 5 setting on a coffee grinder and the consistency will resemble that of sand. This grind setting is ideal for a drip coffee maker that has a V-shaped basket. The medium grind is best for this brewing method because it allows for the hot water to flow through the grounds at an even rate to have extraction speed that results in a non-bitter final cup with a brew time of around 5 minutes. Most pre-ground coffee sold in stores will be ground for this consistency.

Medium-coarse grind: A grind setting typically between 6-8 that has a consistency of coarse sand and sea salt. If your drip coffee maker is a flat bottom, then the coarser end of the medium scale will be ideal. This grind is also ideal for brewers like the Chemex and Clover Drip brewer.

A drip brewer is one of the most common brewers found in homes and at high volume coffee shops

Coarse grind: Most likely the coarsest setting on your coffee grinder (most likely a 10 setting). This grind will resemble flakey salt crystals and is very granular. It is used for two main brewing methods. First, for a french press as the larger surface area of the grounds are immersed in the water to allow for the best extraction. Second is for cold brew coffee that needs long contact time with the grounds to give that desired low bitterness found in cold brew coffee.

French Press coffee is best brewed with freshly ground coarse coffee.

Looking for excellent coffee that could be brewed for any of these methods then try out any of our whole bean speciality coffee.