Coffee culture

Introduction to Freshly Ground Coffee Powder Production Methods | How to Make Freshly Ground Coffee Powder | How to Brew Freshly Ground Coffee Powder

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee
Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange For more coffee bean information please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style ) After you decide to drink good coffee, you will carefully select your favorite coffee equipment, but you might not buy a grinder, instead choosing to purchase freshly ground coffee powder directly or have the merchant grind it for you. ●Good coffee is freshly ground As an agricultural product, coffee beans

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

Once you've decided to drink good coffee, you'll certainly carefully select your favorite coffee equipment, but you might not buy a coffee grinder, instead choosing to buy pre-ground coffee powder or have the merchant grind it for you.

Good Coffee is Freshly Ground

Coffee beans, as an agricultural product, have very important freshness requirements. After roasting, coffee beans expand and become larger, filled with small pores all over, and continuously release carbon dioxide. As coffee beans release gas, volatile aromatic components within the beans are also constantly released, quickly losing the coffee's characteristic charming aroma.

That's why coffee bean packaging bags have a one-way exhaust valve. Its function is to release the gas emitted by the coffee beans while preventing air from entering the bag and oxidizing the coffee beans.

The Purpose of Grinding

We grind coffee beans into powder, cutting the beans into thousands of small particles to increase the surface area and extraction rate. After grinding coffee powder, gas evaporation also accelerates, and the flavor disappears in an instant. In coffee shops, if coffee powder hasn't been used for half an hour, it's often discarded.

Good coffee beans will never be pre-ground into powder for sale. For example, we only help you grind after you've made a purchase. Some even stricter merchants will refuse to grind coffee for you.

What Should You Pay Attention to When Grinding Coffee Beans?

1. Coarseness

Different grinding coarseness means different surface areas for the coffee beans. The finer the grind, the larger the surface area and the higher the extraction rate, and vice versa. Therefore, different extraction methods require different grinding degrees:

Pressurized extraction: Espresso - finest, fine salt

Filtered extraction: Pour-over coffee - medium, granulated sugar

Immersion extraction: French press - coarsest, sea salt particles

2. Uniformity

We need to grind coffee powder into particles of the same size as much as possible to find a reference for extraction. For example, larger particles require higher water temperature and longer time. But if particles vary in size, extraction becomes inconsistent, and we cannot obtain delicious coffee with uniform extraction.

Choosing the Right Coffee Grinder

How Coffee Grinders Work

A coffee grinder's blades consist of a moving grinding wheel and a stationary contact surface. Coffee beans are ground between these two grinding wheels. By adjusting the distance between the grinding wheels, you can control the coarseness of the coffee particles. Once coffee particles are ground to the size of the gap between the grinding wheels, they fall into the powder bin below and won't be continuously ground.

Why can't you use a food processor (or blender) to grind coffee beans? Because the grinding is not! uniform! A food processor's structure consists of metal blades connected to a motor, using rotational force to shatter coffee beans through continuous repeated cutting. If you want finer powder, you can only achieve it by grinding for a longer time. Because there's no powder bin design, regardless of the grinding degree, there's a chance of continued grinding, resulting in extremely fine powder and extremely coarse particles coexisting.

Are Manual Coffee Grinders Less Professional Than Electric Ones?

Manual coffee grinders work on the same principle as electric coffee grinders, so there's no need to worry about unprofessionalism. Many people like to use them because they offer strong hands-on participation. It's said that Beethoven counted sixty coffee beans every morning, put them in his grinder, and enjoyed their aroma while grinding, experiencing the fun in the process.

Most manual coffee grinders use ceramic grinding cores, which don't generate excessive heat during grinding that would scorch the coffee powder, and they can be washed with water.

Should You Choose a Manual or Electric Coffee Grinder?

1. How much coffee do you drink each day? How many people are drinking?

Manual coffee grinders are more suitable for 1-2 people and drinking only 1-2 cups of coffee per day.

2. What equipment do you use to make coffee?

Manual coffee grinders are suitable for pour-over, French press, and other coffee equipment. But if you use moka pots, semi-automatic espresso machines, and other pressurized extraction equipment, then you should choose an electric coffee grinder.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, also providing online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473

0