How to Choose Your Coffee Grind Size

Choose Your Coffee Grind

If you are a daily café visitor, you’ve likely noticed that the barista grind the coffee beans for your espresso right before he/she pulls your shots.  If you are at a café while the baristas are making drip or pour-over coffee, you’ve surely heard the grinder.  How do you choose the right coffee grind for home brewing? Grinding the beans just before brewing is a key to making the best cup of coffee possible.  It makes sense then, if you brew at home, to learn to choose your coffee grind to match your brewing method.

Why does Coffee Grind size matter?

Three main elements of coffee grind impact your coffee flavor: extraction rate, contact time, and flow rate.

  • Extraction rate of coffee grounds increases with more surface area.
  • Increase surface area by grinding coffee finer.
  • With a higher extraction rate, less contact time is required.
  • Finer grind reduces the flow rate of water, which increases contact time.

All the coffee experts in the world advise that you invest in a burr grinder.  They would tell you blade grinders are great for grinding whole spices, but that is where their greatness ends.  A burr grinder shaves the beans while blade grinders shatter them.  A burr grinder permits you to precisely control the coffee grind so you achieve the coarseness or fineness required for the brew method you prefer.

The following describes different types of grind levels and their coffee brew method mates.

Extra-Coarse Grind is best for cold brewing. Any coffee you love will make a tasty cold brew.

Coarse Grind is best for a French Press, Chemex, and for professional cupping of different coffees.

Coarse Grind Ladro Coffee Example

Medium Grind encompasses two categories.

  1. Drip Grind is perfect for your automatic drip brewer.
  2. Fine Drip Grind is your friend when brewing using a pour-over method like the Bonavita Immersion Dripper.

Example of Medium Fine Ground Coffee to help you Choose your Coffee grind

Fine Grind is what we call Espresso Grind, whether you are pulling those shots or making them on your stove-top and is also a great choice when brewing with an Aeropress Brewer. Our Ladro Blend is an excellent espresso.

Example of Fine Ground Ladro Coffee to Help you Choose Your Coffee Grind

Extra-Fine Grind is what you need if you are brewing Turkish or Greek coffee. These coffees are dark roast. Our darkest roast is Diablo Blend.

Extra Fine Grind Sample Ladro Coffee Close Up of Extra Fine Ground Ladro Coffee

We recommend burr grinders which you can find for both home and travel use. Remember, burr grinders will give you consistent grind size, thus vastly improving your brewing and tasting experiences. If you need a quick reference or answer for a friend, we offer recommendations for which grind is best for which brewing method in our FAQ section.

Happy Brewing!

 

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Cold Brew Coffee Recipe used for iced coffee