I did an earlier blog post about whole bean vs. ground coffee, and discussed the benefits of using whole bean as it relates to freshness / shelf life of the coffee. What I didn’t mention is that when grinding your own beans (with the proper grinder), you can adjust grind size in order to help “dial in” your perfect brew. Are you making espresso or batch brew? French press or a pour over? It really does matter!

Unfortunately, I understand this all too well since I recently made a rookie mistake related to this very topic! Long story short, at some point the setting on my commercial grinder was changed, and I failed to realize this until I got feedback from some unhappy customers. Ugh! People always tell me how much they love my coffee, but for the first time I got some negative feedback. It took some thinking and experimenting, but I eventually figured out the problem…grind size! I made a pot of the coffee I had sold, and sure enough, it was nasty! I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was mortified. Needless to say, I ended up exchanging a lot of coffee from that order. So how is coffee grind size related to coffee extraction?

Coffee extraction is the process of pulling the desirable flavors and aromas from the ground coffee beans and infusing them into the water. This process is crucial in determining the taste of the final cup of coffee and has a significant relationship with grind size.

Grind size refers to the size of the coffee particles that result from grinding the beans. It is an important factor in coffee extraction as it determines the rate at which water flows through the grounds and the amount of surface area exposed for extraction. If the grind size is too coarse, the water will flow through quickly, resulting in a weak and under-extracted cup of coffee. On the other hand, if the grind size is too fine, the water will have a difficult time flowing through, leading to over-extraction and a nasty cup of coffee.

The ideal grind size for coffee extraction is dependent on the brewing method being used. A French press, for example, requires a coarser grind size as compared to an espresso machine, which requires a much finer grind. Another tricky part worth mentioning is that grind size is NOT standardized across coffee grinders. I could tell you what I use for grind settings, but it would be specific to my grinder. And, if you get into espresso it becomes even more necessary to make micro adjustments with a grinder made for espresso.

To sum up, coffee extraction and grind size have a significant relationship that can make or break the final cup of coffee. Achieving the right grind size for a specific brewing method is essential in producing an awesome cup of coffee. The right coffee and the wrong grind size don’t work well together. I highly recommend buying a good burr grinder with grind size settings and then playing around to see what works for you.

Happy brewing!