How To Grind Beans To Get The Brew You Like

Among the most critical points that influence the coffee you brew is grinding the beans right. When you grind your freshly roasted coffee beans, the surface area of the coffee that comes in contact with water increases. How coarse or how fine you grind the beans determines how quickly water passes through it. This is what influences the taste of your coffee. 

In this quick guide, we show you the best tips and tricks to grind your beans right:

Fine Grind :

A finer grind has the coffee packed closer together, so water takes longer to pass through, leading to greater extraction, more bitter flavours and a thicker body.

Coarse Grind:

A coarser grind allows water to flow through the coffee more quickly, with a shorter brew time and less extraction, creating floral and dried fruit flavour notes.



10 Tips & Tricks For Grinding Your Coffee Right: 

1. Measure your beans before grinding them. You can do this by using a digital scale that helps to measure the beans precisely. Shop digital scales @ BeanBurds. A strong cup generally works in a ratio of 1:20 (one part coffee, 20 parts water). Though this is up to you to choose depending on how you make your coffee and how you want your coffee. You can try our coffee calculator here to understand the ratio of beans to water to make your desired coffee.

2. If you have not measured the beans, do not store leftover beans in the bean hopper. Place them back in an airtight container.

3. Learn by grinding some coffee and assessing the size. For smaller cup volumes (10oz) a finer grind will work best, for larger cup volumes, a medium-coarse grind will work best, but these are heavily dependent on many factors.

4. Make adjustments one at a time & determine its effects by brewing and tasting.

5. When using an espresso machine grinder, choose the single wall filter basket when grinding fresh coffee beans as it allows you to experiment with the grind, dose and tamp to create a more balanced espresso.

6. Don’t grind the coffee beans too fine or too coarse. If it looks like powder and feels like flour when rubbed between fingers, the grind is too fine. Water will not flow through the coffee even under pressure. This will result in over extraction - dark coloured bitter espresso. If the grind is too coarse, the water will flow through the coffee too quickly resulting in under extraction - flavourless espresso lacking in colour.

7. If your coffee tastes watery and acidic, you may be grinding your beans too coarsely. Try a finer grind, and see if that fixes the issue. If your coffee tastes overly bitter, you may be grinding too finely. A coarser grind may improve your brew.

8. Clean the bean hopper and conical burrs regularly. Brush off excess coffee after every use.

9. Always keep the grinder dry. If there is moisture, the coffee grounds will stick together and make it clumpy.

10. Always use freshly roasted whole beans, never pre-ground. Coffee beans lose their flavour and freshness much more quickly after you grind them. Try to find beans that have a “roasted on” date within 2 weeks. For the best results, grind beans immediately before brewing.

Did you know, at BeanBurds you are guaranteed to get freshly roasted whole beans every time you order coffee beans? You can also choose to get the beans grinded if you want to leave it to the experts. You can further select the type of grind to suit your brewing method - espresso grind, filter grind or french press grind. 

Shop specialty coffee beans by local roasters in UAE from a wide range of variety here.