Basics of Coffee Grinds

Making coffee at home can (and should!) be a great experience. We take pride in providing you with specialty beans that align with your values so that you can take pride in brewing and enjoying every sip.

Here’s some coffee bean 101 to help you create a delicious cup of coffee:

How Does the Size of My Coffee Grounds Affect the Taste?

How you grind your beans ultimately decides how the flavour will be extracted once it comes into contact with water. How fine or how coarse the beans are ground affects how fast the water will pass through them, determining the strength of your coffee. 

If your beans are ground coarsely, the water will move quickly between the pieces, extracting only some of the flavour. To get a full balance of flavour, it’s best to brew these grounds for a bit longer so more of the flavour is extracted. That’s why, for example, a French Press can take four minutes to get the perfect brew.

Finely ground beans mean the coffee grinds are, well, fine, and packed more closely. Water can take longer to pass through all the grounds and, as a result, extract more of the flavour. That’s why when you’re brewing an espresso, you only need a fraction of the time you’d use with a French Press to get the full flavour of your coffee.

So, Why Not Always Use a Fine Grind to Extract More Flavour if It Takes Less Time?

Although fine ground beans will extract quite a bit of flavour, this isn’t ideal when it comes to making certain brews. Different coffee brewing systems require different types of coffee grinds, and, of course, it also comes down to personal taste!

There’s more to it, but if you find your coffee is too sour or watery, you’ll need to grind your beans finer. If it’s bitter or extremely acidic, you’ll need to grind your beans much coarser.

Yes, you’ll notice some coffee brewing methods falls under more than one grind size category, this is because you can control the outcome of your brew with your grind size + brewing time for certain brewing methods.

Lets take a look at the major grind sizes from very coarse to very fine.

1. Extra Coarse Grind (Cold Brew Grind)

As large as you can go on most popular conical burr grinders – similar to ground peppercorns.

Suits these brew methods:​

• Cold-brew coffee brewing (e.g. using your Filtron or Toddy Brewer)
• Cowboy coffee

2. Coarse Grind (French Press Grind)

If you brew with a French Press, you should know your coarse grind. It should look similar to sea salt.

Suits these brew methods:

• French press coffee brewing
• Percolators
• Coffee cupping/tasting

3. Medium-Coarse Grind

Not quite medium but not quite coarse – similar looking to coarse/rough sand.

Suits these brew methods:

• Chemex
• Clever Dripper
• Cafe solo brewer

4. Medium Grind

The happy medium of grind sizes; a great starting point for testing your grounds. Similar to the consistency of regular sand.

Suits these brew methods:

• Flat bottomed drip coffee makers
• Cone-shaped pour-over coffee makers
• The Aeropress (With 3+ minute brew time)
• Siphon brewers

5. Medium-Fine Grind (Pour Over Grind)

If you love your pour-over coffee like us, you will need a medium-fine coffee grind size. It’s finer than sand, but not as fine as an espresso grind.

Suits these brew methods:

• Cone-shaped pour-over brewers (e.g. Hario v60, Kalita wave, etc)
• The Aeropress (with a 2-3 minute brew time)

6. Fine Grind (Espresso Grind)

The most common grind size you’ll come across. When you buy pre-ground coffee, it’s usually a fine grind size (unless otherwise stated). In terms of consistency, it’s a little finer than table salt.

Suits these brew methods:

• Espresso Brewing (with or without a machine)
• The Aeropress (with a 1-2 minute brew time)
• Stovetop espresso

7. Extra Fine (Turkish Coffee Grind)

You’ll rarely use an extra fine grind and you need a Turkish coffee grinder to achieve a fine and consistent grind like this. It’s similar to flour or powder in texture.

Suits these brew methods:

• Ibrik (Turkish coffee)

Happy Grinding!