How Fine Should Pour-Over Coffee Be Ground? How Does Grind Size Affect Coffee Flavor?

Finding the Perfect Coffee Grind for Optimal Extraction

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FrontStreet Coffee discusses today: How fine should coffee grounds be to achieve perfect extraction?

Grinding beans is the first step in manual coffee brewing, but it's also where many people fail - either grinding too fine or too coarse, which indirectly affects the taste of the brewed coffee. If you want to precisely control the coarseness of your coffee grounds, you can use a small eagle or small pony grinder, which allows you to adjust the grind setting to achieve the ideal fineness.

Using Small Pony Grinder Settings as Reference

The optimal coarseness for pour-over coffee grounds falls between espresso (settings 1-2) and French press (settings 5-6), meaning a setting around 4, where smaller numbers represent finer grounds.

If you're using a traditional manual grinder, the ideal particle size for pour-over coffee is about half the size of brown sugar crystals. However, the disadvantage of manual grinders is their tendency to produce uneven particle sizes. So how do coarse and fine grinding affect coffee flavor?

Coffee grounds that are too fine will lead to over-extraction, easily extracting coffee impurities along with the desired compounds. Conversely, grounds that are too coarse will result in under-extraction, producing a weaker taste.

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