Setting and Calibrating Your Grind

Grind size affects how much flavor the water pulls out of the coffee and, in many brewers, how quickly water moves through it. Start with a setting that suits your brewer, then adjust by taste.

Grind size and contact time

A coarse grind gives larger, fewer particles, so there is less coffee surface for the water to touch. A finer grind gives more surface and more contact. Immersion brewers like the AeroPress and French press let you set contact time directly with a timer. With other brewers, grind size is how you influence it.

At one extreme, water poured over whole beans runs through fast and tastes of very little. At the other, a powder-fine grind gives a cloudy, bitter, astringent cup. For each brewer there is a range in between that tastes good, and nudging the setting up or down within that range fine-tunes the flavor.

Roast level and grind

Darker roasts lose more moisture in the roaster, so the beans are less dense and more porous. Light roasts are denser. As a starting point, grind light roasts slightly finer and dark roasts slightly coarser than the setting listed for your brewer.

Roast level also changes how much coffee you need by volume: it takes more scoops of dark roast than light roast to get the same strength. That is one more reason to weigh your coffee.

Starting points by brewer

These are starting points, not rules. Taste the cup, then adjust.

1. Espresso

  • Dose: use the dose recommended for your basket. Many double baskets take about 18 grams.
  • Grind size: fine, like powdered sugar.
  • Brew time: about 25-30 seconds for medium roasts and 20-25 seconds for dark roasts, from pump on to pump off.
  • Tuning: grind finer to lengthen the shot, and finer again if it tastes sour. Grind coarser to shorten the shot if it tastes bitter or astringent.

2. Moka pot

  • Dose: 10 grams of coffee per 100 ml of water in the lower chamber. A 130 ml pot takes 13 grams.
  • Grind size: medium-fine, coarser than espresso. Pick a setting where the whole dose fits in the basket without packing it down.
  • Brew time: about 2-3 minutes from putting the pot on the heat. See our moka pot guide.
  • Tuning: if the coffee is bitter or astringent, grind coarser. If it is sour, as can happen with light roasts, grind a little finer.

3. Pour-over (V60 and Chemex)

  • Dose: 10 grams of coffee per 150 ml (150 g) of water. 150 ml is one serving.
  • Grind size: medium-fine for a V60, medium for a Chemex.
  • Brew time: 2-3 minutes in total, depending on the number of servings. See our pour-over guide.
  • Tuning: pour-overs depend on how fast the water flows. Pour more slowly if the cup is weak or sour, and a bit faster if it is astringent or very bitter. If sourness continues, grind finer. If bitterness continues, grind coarser.

4. AeroPress

  • Dose: 15 grams of coffee with 225 g of water for the standard AeroPress, or 30 grams with 450 g for the AeroPress XL.
  • Grind size: medium.
  • Brew time: 2 minutes.
  • Tuning: steep longer if the cup is sour, shorter if it is bitter.

5. French press or press pot

  • Dose: 10 grams of coffee per 150 ml of water.
  • Grind size: coarse, like sea salt.
  • Brew time: 4 minutes.
  • Tuning: change the dose for strength. Steep longer if the cup is sour, shorter if it is bitter.

6. Automatic drip brewer (cone or flat-bottom filter)

  • Dose: 10 grams of coffee per 150 ml (about 5 fl oz) of water. Check your brewer's serving size.
  • Grind size: medium.
  • Brew time: set by the machine.
  • Tuning: if the coffee is bitter, grind a little coarser. If it is sour or thin, grind a little finer.

Dialing in your grinder

  1. Start with the setting listed for your brewer.
  2. Brew and taste.
  3. Change the setting one small step, finer or coarser, and brew again.
  4. Keep the dose and water amount the same while you adjust. Stop when the cup tastes balanced to you.

Sour and bitter are clues, not proof. A sour cup often means under-extraction and a bitter one over-extraction, but water temperature, dose and brew time matter too. Change one thing at a time.

Habits that help

  • Clean your grinder. Old grounds and oils can affect flavor and grind consistency.
  • Write down your settings. Record the grind setting that tastes best for each coffee and brewer.

Our coffee is roasted to order and ships the day after roasting. Brew it soon after it arrives, or rest it for a few days if that suits your brew method and taste, then adjust your grind as the coffee changes.

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