Back to the Grind

A little while back, we had a post about using fresh coffee as well as freshly ground coffee. Well, now lets dive a little deeper into the grind aspect of coffee. We will look at the importance of making sure you have the right grind size, we will look into different grinders in the future.

Before I started getting into specialty coffee, I never realized the importance of the grind size. I never realized that for every different brew method you used, you needed a different grind size.

V60 (left) Espresso (right)

Let's get back to basics now. What happens when we brew coffee? We pour water over coffee grounds and drink what comes out of the mixture. So why does grind size matter? Well, the water is extracting different flavors from the coffee beans. The bigger the grind size, the slower the extraction. The smaller the grind size, the faster the extraction.

It is very similar to ice cubes. When you have small ice cubes, it cools down the drink faster but also lasts for less time. When you have large ice cubes, it cools down the drink slower but also lasts for longer amounts of time. Just so in coffee. Large coffee grinds (ex. french press) require a longer brew time. Small coffee grinds (ex. espresso) require a very short brew time.

So what methods require what?

Fine: Espresso

Medium Fine: V60.

Moderate: Kalita Wave, Beehouse Dripper, Auto-drip machines (ie. Mr. Coffee), pour overs.

Moderate Course: Clever Dripper, Chemex.


Course: French Press, Cold brew.

Happy Drinking!