The first time I had purchased a one-pound bag of coffee from my favorite coffee roaster,
I was surprised when the barista had asked, “how would you like it ground?” I had a modest home grinder that pulverized about a pot’s worth of beans at a time, but I thought it would be easier to let the pros do the whole bag at once with their high-tech equipment. But then that question was thrown at me, and an action that I thought would save me some time suddenly became much more complicated.
“Err, does it matter?” I replied.
The barista nodded seriously, implying that yes, it does indeed matter. The shop wasn’t too busy on that day, so she had time to give me a crash course in which grind to use for each of the few brewing methods popular at that time (the late 1990s!).
I immediately thought of the antique coffee grinder that sat on a shelf in my grandmother’s pantry. It looked like a little wooden box with a manual crank on top, with a small drawer that collected the grinds. We’ve come a long way in coffee gear, and now we have an array of brewing styles available, with each requiring a particular grind to achieve a delicious cup of coffee. Here’s what that barista taught me; updated for some common methods used today:
A coarse grind is good for brewing methods like the French press, since the flavor extraction needs the maximum surface area for the water to interact with.
Medium coarse is preferred for full immersion brewing like the Eva Solo Café Solo, which has been described as a “reverse French press.” Grinding the beans medium-coarse allows the flavor to be fully extracted.
A medium grind is likely the most common grind setting, as it works well in most standard drip pots like Mr. Coffee or Bunn.
The medium-fine grind seems to be popular for the pour over cone brewing method. This grind is the consistency of sand, but not quite as fine as an espresso grind, and it allows maximum flavor to be extracted from the pour over style. It’s also used in the vacuum pot brewing method (that hourglass-shaped glass pot).
Fine grind is the choice of baristas and home brewers for great espresso, since this brewing method uses pressure to force water through compact coffee grounds. Fine or extra-fine grind is also used in Turkish coffee, in which the coffee is brewed in an ibrik, a small pot with a long handle.
So once you know the preferred grind size for your favorite brewing method, you can choose a grinder. A burr style is comprised of two revolving abrasive surfaces, known as the burrs, in between which the coffee is ground. Burr grinders start around $40 and run up to hundreds of dollars.
There’s also the blade grinder. With spinning blades similar to a blender, some coffee aficionados balk at these grinders because they are inconsistent with the grind size and produce rough, dusty grinds. But they’re economical—a simple blade grinder can be picked up for as low as $10. Giving the grinds a few extra pulses can often help even out the grinds.
And then there’s grandma’s antique grinder. Manual coffee grinders seem to be making a comeback; some people note that electric grinders whir at high speeds, in which the friction can generate heat, briefly increasing the coffee’s temperature and altering the flavor. Manual grinders are also smaller than electric grinders, and using no electricity, they’re ideal for camping or travel.
Grandma would be pleased.
