So you have purchased high quality freshly roasted coffee beans and want to make the perfect cup of coffee to enjoy at home, in your jammies, at a fraction of coffee shop prices.

Sadly, you can have the best coffee beans and still end up with a subpar cup of coffee - if you don’t know these two things:

• Proper grinding
• Coffee to water ratio

Now, coffee brewing really starts with the idea of extraction. Your goal in grinding coffee beans is to extract the perfect amount of flavor from your coffee. 

If your grounds are too coarse it will lead to under extraction (sour acidic, salty coffee)

If your grounds are too fine it will create over-extraction and it becomes bitter and so intense you cannot taste the flavor nuances in the coffee.

Blade Vs Burr Grinders

The key to brewing a great cup of coffee is consistency. If your grounds are not all the same size, some will be over extracted, some will be under extracted, and the result will be, well… not good.

Blade grinders produce an inconsistent grind.

Blade grinders also work by spinning extremely fast, which causes heat and friction which means your coffee is already heating up so it won’t taste as fresh.

Conical burr grinders on the other hand use uniform pressure and rotation to essentially ‘crush’ beans into a perfect consistency. This is done at low speeds, meaning no added heat, and with a consistent uniform grind.

If you are in the desparate position of not having a burr or conical grinder checkout this (hilarious) video from James Hoffman.

Brew Methods and Their Grind Size

Despite the fact that preground coffee from the store is all the same, you can’t choose one grind size and use it for all brewing methods. It will lead to over or under extraction.

BREW METHOD ~ GRIND

Turkish ~ Extra Fine

Espresso ~ Fine

Aeropress ~ Medium Fine

Pour-Over ~ Medium

Auto Drip ~ Medium Coarse

French Press ~ Coarse

 

Cold Brew ~ Extra Coarse

The second thing we mentioned was important to a great tasting cup of coffee was the coffee to water ratio.

This is something you should experiment with. Too few grounds and the coffee will be weaker, too many grounds and it will be too intense.

We recommend starting with 1 tablespoon of coffee for every 6 ounces, and moving up to 2 tablespoons to find your own personal sweet spot. This may vary from one brew method to another, and coffee to coffee.

In summary - knowing the right grind size will give you a better cup of coffee. More importantly this information gives you a tool to play and customize your perfect cup of coffee.