Brewing a great cup of coffee requires a decent amount of science. You’re involving the elements of time, temperature, and of course: coffee grind size. There are several different methods of brewing your coffee, whether you’re using a French Press or a Chemex there are specifics when it comes to how coarse or fine you grind your beans. The density of the grind can affect how the immersion process will unfold. Being too fine or too coarse can affect the taste and overall profile of your cup. Here is a simple breakdown of how your should grind your coffee based on your brewing device:

Fine

This is used for: Espresso or MokaPot. A finer grind is also known as an Espresso grind. This is most commonly used for pre-ground supermarket coffee. This grind is just a bit finer than table salt. 

Medium-Fine

This is used for: pour over coffees or AeroPress. This grind is less fine than an espresso grind and is best suited for making a pour over. Grab that Fellow set and get brewing!

Medium

This is used for: standard drip coffee makers, ceramic dripper pour overs, or siphon. When you’re just starting out with testing grind density, a medium grind is a great first test. You can practice a finer or coarser grind from this point.

Medium-Coarse

This is used for: Chemex, Clever Dripper, or Cafe Solo. This grind is moving into coarse territory and will more closely resemble kosher salt. This one is great for a Chemex brew!

Coarse

This is used for: Cold Brew, French Press, or Percolator. When using a French Press or brewing your own cold brew, you’ll want a pretty coarse grind. Because of this, a coarse grind is also known as the French Press grind.

Now that you know all about the different grind types for each common brewing device, it’s time to experiment! Like we said at the beginning, coffee brewing requires science and fine tuning your process through trial and error. We encourage you to grab a jar and keep tasting notes from each brewing session so you can document how the cup tasted based on how fine or coarse of a grind you used. As always, if you have any brewing questions – let us know! Shoot us an email or message us on our social media platforms.