By using the proper grind size (and freshly grinding, of course), you can get the most out of your drip coffee maker. For machines with cone-shaped filters, this usually means starting with a medium-fine grind. For flat-bottomed filters, you might want to start with medium.
Grind | Particle size in millimeters | Best for |
---|---|---|
Medium | 0.75 | Pour-over, Chemex, drip coffee maker |
Medium fine | 0.5 | Moka pot (stovetop espresso), Aeropress, siphon brewer, pour-over cone |
Fine | 0.3 | Espresso |
Superfine | 0.1 | Turkish coffee |
This grind is best suited for Chemex and Clever Dripper. This is the preferred grind size for the drip brew methods. Medium Grind – These look like table salt. They are best suited for cone-shaped coffee makers, The Aeropress, Siphon brews or the flat bottomed coffee makers.
For a medium-coarse to coarse grind, you can brew between three to five minutes. The grind size you choose will affect the flavor, of course, but it will also affect how much pressure you need to plunge the coffee. The finer the grind, the more pressure required. This will, in turn, affect the flavor and body of the coffee as well.
A coarser grind has more loose particles which means water will move through the beans quickly. This leads to less water coming in contact with the surface area of beans. Although this results in less brew time but the efficiency of extraction is reduced due to it.
This extremely fine grind isn’t standardly achievable with commercial coffee grinders. There are only a few types of coffee that require extra-fine coffee grounds. If you know you’ll need a lot of this coffee ground consistency, make sure you find a grinder that produces extra-fine coffee grounds.
For pour over coffee, the best grind to use is a medium-coarse grind. A medium-coarse grind will be similar in size to a French press grind but less chunky and will feel slightly smoother. If you are using a cone-shaped pour over, then use a medium-fine coffee grind instead.
4. Medium Grind. Medium grind is the most common grind size for pre-ground beans, with a texture like smoother sand. This grind is great for drip coffee makers and siphon brewers.
A coarse cold drip grind size is ideal for making cold drip coffee. Therefore, we recommend a grinding level of 9-10 out of 10 for any cold brew method. With cold brew coffee specialties, especially full immersion coffee, the coffee powder is immersed in water for hours.
Too fine a grind will plug up your coffee machine and leave you with sludge in your final cup. Too coarse a grind will mean less extraction (so your coffee will taste weak). A nice, medium grind is usually perfect for a drip coffee pot.
Simply put, the size of the grind determines how long the coffee will take to extract. A finer grind creates more surface area for the water to run through. It can create a stronger flavor, but this is mainly determined by the extraction time and, not the grind itself.
In general, if you brew coffee that is ground too coarse, the coffee can be under-extracted (weak), and less flavorful. If your coffee is ground too fine, however, the coffee can be over-extracted and bitter. Small changes in grind size can drastically affect the taste of your final brew.
Generally speaking, coffee brewed with grounds that are too coarse are going to be weak and less flavorful due to being under-extracted. On the other hand, if the coffee is ground too fine, it can be over-extracted and taste bitter if you're using the wrong brewing method.
Because of the shorter brewing time, the fine grind size allows for more of the coffee's solubles to be extracted. Conversely, when coffee is made in a French press, the grounds are immersed in water for several minutes. In order to avoid overextraction, a coarse grind is used.
Folgers is instant coffee, which means it's very easy to use. You simply add water and stir. There's no need to grind the beans or measure the grounds.
Regarding brewing method, a medium grind size could be considered your "standard" grind because it's great for your typical drip coffee brewing. However, the "regular" grind size for an espresso would be considered fine.
Finally, you have fine and extra fine grinds, which can be as fine as anything from very fine table salt to flour. For drip coffee, your best bet is usually somewhere right in the middle, in one of the medium grinds.
Between the sand consistency of medium ground coffee and the sugar consistency of fine ground coffee lies medium-fine ground coffee. These coffee grounds are ideal for pour over coffee brewing. Once you master the pour over method, medium-fine grounds produce perfectly extracted cups of coffee.
Coffee extraction is the art of diffusing coffee beans' naturally occurring coffee solubles into water. Desirable coffee solubles that supply rich flavors include lipids, carbohydrates, melanoidins, caffeine, and acids. If too few coffee solubles permeate the water they're brewed in, the final product's flavor is off. However, if the solubles over-saturate the water, the coffee you serve won't taste good either. You want to extract coffee beans to achieve just the right amount of coffee soluble diffusion.
Over-extraction makes coffee bitter. When coffee beans are ground too finely for their brewing method, left to brew too long, or are brewed in too hot of water, the coffee grounds become over-extracted, lose their flavor, and yield bitter cups of coffee. In contrast, under-extracted coffee is sour, salty, and acidic tasting.
If too few coffee solubles permeate the water they're brewed in, the final product's flavor is off. However, if the solubles over-saturate the water, the coffee you serve won't taste good either. You want to extract coffee beans to achieve just the right amount of coffee soluble diffusion.
Extra coarse ground coffee has the consistency of peppercorns. Extra coarse coffee grounds take a long time to release their flavor, making them suitable to slow brewing methods such as cold brewing.
You can store whole coffee beans in the freezer for up to a month if you do not use/disturb them within that time period. Before freezing your coffee beans, divide them into small portions in airtight bags. When you thaw your frozen coffee beans, place them on a shelf away from heat, light, and moisture.
The more intact your coffee beans are, the slower their extraction rate is. This is neither good nor bad, you just need to adjust your brewing method to accommodate each grind sizes' extraction rate.
A very coarse grind is where we grind a little, resulting in large chunks of coffee beans. A very fine grind is where we grind down our beans until they’re a gritty powder texture. With a coarse grind of coffee, our hot water binds to the outside of the individual grinds.
For this quick extraction, you need finer grounds so that the water has a chance to really penetrate the coffee molecules. Coarse grinds in an Aeropress will result in seriously under-extracted coffee unless you’re going to wait for ages for it to brew.
A Moka pot turns water into steam that travels through your coffee grinds into the top compartment, ready to be poured. It may not be as fast as an espresso machine, but fine ground coffee is still essential. For the steam to extract and lift through the coffee, the grinds need to be fine enough to let the water molecules through.
An Aeropress works in a similar way to an espresso – forcing water through your coffee grinds quickly rather than letting them brew.
Drip and pour over methods (where you add water to your coffee grounds and let gravity do all the work) generally require medium-fine grounds. While the water isn’t pushed through as quickly as the Aeropress and espresso machine, there’s still nothing stopping the water from running straight through the coffee.
Unlike drip, espresso and Aeropress methods, your French press soaks the coffee grinds in water for an extended period of time (usually a few minutes, which is quite long in the world of coffee-extraction).
Espresso machine. Real espresso machines require 9 bars of pressure to pull a shot. These machines are expensive and take up quite a lot of kitchen worktop space. Make sure you actually have an espresso machine and not a coffee maker that makes extra strong coffee, before using fine grinds in it.
Once ground, more of the beans’ surface area is exposed to oxygen, causing the grounds to lose flavor. Ground coffee keeps only a few days, so it’s best to buy it in very small amounts.
Once ground, more of the beans’ surface area is exposed to oxygen, causing the grounds to lose flavor. Ground coffee keeps only a few days, so it’s best to buy it in very small amounts.
That’s why coffee for espresso machines is ground fine, since the water from an espresso maker passes very quickly at high pressure through the grounds.
To start, match your brewing type to the typical grind on this chart. If your coffee tastes watery and acidic, you may be grinding your beans too coarsely. Try a finer grind, and see if that fixes the issue.
For a medium-coarse to coarse grind, you can brew between three to five minutes. The grind size you choose will affect the flavor, of course, but it will also affect how much pressure you need to plunge the coffee. The finer the grind, the more pressure required. This will, in turn, affect the flavor and body of the coffee as well.
A medium grind works well for most automatic drip machines. The most popular coffee equipment for many households, the automatic drip machine makes coffee convenient and quick. But just because the machine is automatic, that doesn’t mean you have no say in the final results.
A coarse grind is best for a Percolator brew. As a straightforward, simple method of brewing, percolator coffee strikes a chord with many traditionalists who don’t want any fancy equipment (or even electricity) to make tasty coffee. Others have had negative experiences drinking bitter, sludgy coffee from a percolator.
An extra-coarse grind is best for cold brew coffee. As the brew method with the longest extraction time, cold brew coffee does not require as much surface area to fully extract flavor from the grounds.
Because percolators brew at a high temperature and cycle the coffee multiple times, they tend to pull too many solubles from the beans, overpowering you with acidity. A coarse grind reduces the surface area exposed to the water during the cycle, so it can help make a more pleasing pot from the percolator.
You also want that fine grind because the brew time is so short. You need maximum surface area to fully extract the coffee in such a short time. Don’t go too fine, of course, or the water won’t go through at all, which is another problem altogether. And always use a burr grinder for best results.
The range of grind levels typically runs from extra-fine to extra-coarse. Which one you choose depends on your brewing method because their different approaches to brewing all require a different grind size. Read on to see what the ideal grind size is for your favorite brewing method.
If you use the wrong grind for your brewing method, you’ll end up with coffee that falls short in flavor. You’ll either end up under extracting your beans, resulting in sour and acidic coffee. Or you’ll over extract them, resulting in bitter and bland coffee that lacks any bold or rich taste.
The Pour over brew method tends to need more of a medium-fine grind . It will be very similar to the grind needed for French press or Chemex, but a little less chunky.
To make a great French press, you need an even, coarse grind. Again, a burr coffee grinder will allow you to achieve a more consistent grind than a blade will.
Cone shaped filters require a grind somewhere between medium and fine. You’ll want it to be a little more coarse than the consistency of sugar, but not coarse enough to resemble flakes of pepper.
If you make espresso with a typical espresso maker at home, you will need a fine grind to brew espresso normale or lungo shots. The other type espresso brew method requires a finer grind, which I will go over below.
Stovetop espresso makers are especially sensitive to the grind size, so make sure you grind carefully when brewing. The grind should be fine, but not feel very powdery. It should feel similar in consistency to sugar.
Medium-Fine Grind – If you prefer the pour-over coffee then this grind size is perfect for it. These are best suited for cone-shaped brewers and the Aeropress.
You need to find the right grind size for different coffee makers. Some of the most popular grind sizes are: Extra Coarse Grind – The extra coarse grind is best suited for cold brewing and cowboy coffee. Coarse Grind – Whenever using French press, percolators or plungers, the coarser grind should be used.
The grind can be divided into coarser and finer grinds. These affect how much water can come in contact with the surface area of the beans as well as affect the brewing time and how good you will be able to extract the flavors.
A burr grinder works differently than a blade grinder. It applies uniform pressure and crushes the coffee beans from all sides at a slow speed. You will get coffee beans that are consistent in sizes.
A coarser grind has more loose particles which means water will move through the beans quickly. This leads to less water coming in contact with the surface area of beans. Although this results in less brew time but the efficiency of extraction is reduced due to it.
The taste of a coffee can go bad due to incorrect grind sizes or not having the same grind consistency.
Extra Fine – Extra Fine is not that common grind size and is similar to powder and flour in its texture. Also, this grind is mostly used for Turkish coffee. It is best suited for the Ibrik brewing method. Just choosing the right grind size isn’t enough to get the perfect coffee taste.