Achieving Perfection with the Best Coffee Bean Grinder Size

Whether you’re a home barista or an avid coffee shop customer, you know that a fine grind of coffee beans is key to achieving a great coffee flavour. But what’s the best grind size for your beans? We explore the possibilities.

The usual gold standard for the perfect grind of coffee beans is to use a burr grinder. This is a tool that looks like two abrasive surfaces, and the distance between their surfaces can be adjusted. As the two pieces rotate against each other, the beans placed between them are gradually ground, and the desired coarseness is easily achievable.

For instance, a very fine grind is recommended when making espresso, as the pressurized hot water should meet limited resistance at the coffee bed. In this case, a very small grind (finer than sugar) will give the best results. On the other hand, a coarser grind is preferable when making coffee with a filter brew method, as a too fine grind can lead to a weak, sour cup of joe. With a burr grinder, the optimal grind size should be slightly coarser than the texture of table salt.

For those coffee drinkers who don’t have access to a burr grinder, an alternative to consider would be a blade grinder. This is a mechanism that uses a spinning blade to cut the beans into small pieces – the longer the beans are exposed to the blades, the finer the grind. A blade grinder is usually much cheaper than a burr grinder, but does not provide the same robust results. Still, if you use a blade grinder, the optimal grind size should be slightly coarser than sand.

Overall, the best grind size for coffee beans depends on the brewing method that you choose. But with a burr grinder’s precision and accuracy, you can easily grind your beans to the appropriate size and ensure that your coffee flavour is at its finest. So if you want the best cup of coffee, it’s worth investing in a burr grinder.