How To Tell When Coffee Is The Right Grind For Your Brewing Method

So, you realized your coffee grinder was sabotaging your cup of joe and are now going down the rabbit hole of grinding coffee. We've been there. Despite the overwhelming sea of information available on the internet, there is a simple approach to knowing when your grind is just right for your brewing method: analogy. With a few expert comparisons to nature and other pantry staples, you will have the references you need to make sure your grind looks more or less how it should after it comes out of your home grinder.

If you enjoyed his game changing suggestions for making coffee without a coffee maker, you might be excited to hear that Matt Woodburn-Simmonds, coffee expert and Home Coffee Expert co-founder, has more wisdom to share on this matter. He explains that while grounds prepped for espresso should look like finely milled salt, those meant for a French press would be more like sea salt flakes. Grinds brewed through a drip machine should resemble rocky sand, but if using an AeroPress they should be finer, more like beach sand. Powdered sugar is the target appearance for Turkish coffee, which requires fairly fine grounds. Finally, Woodburn-Simmonds maintains that the pour over method requires grounds resembling peat moss.

As one of the top mistakes everyone makes with homemade cold brew, messing up the grind size for a brew is surprisingly common. Sometimes, even with an understanding of how fine each particle should be for a particular grind, you might find that you have ground it too small. When coffee is ground too finely, the resulting brew might have too much of a bitter flavor or muddy texture due to over-extraction.

If you find yourself there, Woodburn-Simmonds explains that less brewing time or slightly cooler water might help in such a situation. "But it'll be a guessing game and there's no sure way to know that you've adjusted perfectly until you taste the coffee," he warns. Ultimately, if you're going to be regularly grinding coffee at home, getting familiar with the grinder's size settings is the best way to ensure the grind is the right size for your brewing method. As with most culinary happenings, grinding coffee will become easier with more experience, so keep experimenting.