Coffee culture

How to Brew Coffee Beans at Home for Best Taste? Do They Need to Be Ground?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee
Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Many people notice in coffee shops that baristas grind coffee beans before brewing. This is actually to increase the extraction area of the coffee beans. An unground coffee bean has an extraction surface area of about 2 square centimeters, but after grinding, the surface area of the coffee particles increases exponentially

Many friends notice when drinking coffee at coffee shops that baristas grind coffee beans into powder before brewing. This is actually done to increase the extraction surface area of the coffee beans. An unground coffee bean has an extraction area of approximately 2 square centimeters, but after grinding, the surface area of the coffee particles increases exponentially. Theoretically, if a single coffee bean were fully ground and spread out, its surface area would be equivalent to a standard basketball court.

Once a coffee bean comes into contact with water, the extraction process begins. However, in terms of extraction efficiency, coffee particles the size of a basketball court extracting simultaneously would be significantly more efficient than a single unground coffee bean. Therefore, theoretically, coffee beans don't need to be ground for extraction—it's simply that we grind them into powder to enjoy our coffee more quickly.

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Take FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia COE22 coffee beans as an example: 15 grams of ground coffee beans can be brewed into a delicious cup of coffee in just two minutes, while 15 grams of unground coffee beans might require an entire hour.

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473

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