What Grind Size Should Be Used for Pour-Over Coffee? How Fine Should Coffee Grounds Be for Cold Brew and Cold Drip? What is a #20 Sieve? How Fine Is Granulated Sugar? What Is the Appropriate Grind Size for Espresso?

Regardless of the brewing method we choose—pour-over, cold brew, or espresso—we must first grind coffee beans into powder before beginning the brewing process. The purpose of this is to increase the surface area of coffee contact with water, accelerate the dissolution of flavor compounds, and produce coffee with fuller flavors.

However, as we all know, not all soluble compounds in coffee beans are delicious and high-quality; there are also some unpleasant and undesirable substances. If we want to brew a delicious cup of coffee, we need to ensure that the flavorful compounds from the coffee beans are fully extracted while avoiding the extraction of undesirable substances. To achieve this, we must use appropriate extraction parameters to control the flavor compounds dissolved from coffee. The grind size of coffee powder is one of the most important parameters. Many times, when we fail to brew a good cup of coffee, it's likely because we haven't found the right grind size, which applies to all types of coffee.

Since many friends have recently inquired about grind sizes for various extraction methods including cold brew, pour-over, and moka pot, FrontStreet Coffee would like to share what grind sizes should be used for different extraction methods today!

First, we need to understand that... unlike water temperature and water amount, which have direct numerical values, the grind size of coffee powder doesn't have such intuitive measurements. Therefore, when we discuss coffee grind sizes, we often use analogies to describe the coarseness or fineness of the coffee powder. For example, using items like "fine sugar" or "flour" to describe the particle size of coffee powder. However, this approach has a significant drawback because the naked eye cannot accurately determine the degree of coffee powder particle size—it's only approximate. This easily leads to situations where each person's "fine sugar" particles are completely different sizes. Even if all other parameters are identical, the resulting coffee flavor can vary significantly.

Additionally, everyone uses different grinders, so we cannot share coffee grind sizes through grinder settings. In such cases, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using sieve pass-through rate for communication, which is also the method we'll use in this article to share grind sizes. The sieve referred to here is a #20 Chinese standard sieve with a 0.85mm aperture. This is a tool that can classify and detect particle sizes of materials, and it can also be used for calibrating coffee grind sizes.

The method is quite simple! We just need to pour the ground coffee powder into the sieve and shake it until no more particles fall through, then calculate the pass-through rate by weighing the filtered particles to determine an approximate degree of grind coarseness. For example, FrontStreet Coffee grinds 10g of coffee powder, and 7.1g passes through the sieve, making the pass-through rate for this grind size 71% with a #20 sieve. The higher the pass-through rate, the finer the coffee grind, and vice versa.

Once everyone understands the calculation method and meaning of pass-through rate, you can then intuitively understand how coarse or fine the grind sizes shared by FrontStreet Coffee actually are.

1. Grind Size for Pour-Over Coffee

First, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share the grind size for pour-over coffee! Pour-over coffee is a drip extraction method that quickly brews a flavorful cup of coffee through manual pouring. Since the overall extraction time is relatively short (brewing a pot with 15g of coffee powder takes about 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds), the coffee powder needs to be relatively fine to quickly dissolve the flavor compounds from the coffee.

Due to density differences, different coffee beans require different grind degrees. Generally, FrontStreet Coffee divides them into two categories: medium-light roast grinding and medium-dark roast grinding. Medium-light roasted coffee beans are ground finer, using a grind setting of 10 on the Ek43, with a 75%-80% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve. This is paired with 90-93°C water temperature, 2-minute brewing time (for 15g of coffee), and a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio.

When grinding medium-dark roasted beans, the grind setting is coarser. For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses a grind setting of 11 on the EK43, with a 70%-75% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve. This is paired with 86-89°C water temperature, 2-minute brewing time (for 15g of coffee), and a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio.

The above grinding parameters are for hot brewing. If we want to brew iced pour-over coffee, the grind needs to be one setting finer than the hot brew version. Then, the coffee-to-water ratio changes from 1:15 to a "coffee-water-ice ratio" of 1:10:5-6, while water temperature and brewing time remain unchanged.

2. Grind Size for Cold Brew Coffee (Cold Drip/Cold Brew)

Next is the grind size for cold brew coffee! Cold brew coffee mainly comes in two types: cold brew and cold drip. Both use cold water for extraction, but the difference is that the former is immersion extraction while the latter is drip extraction. Since cold water has poor penetration ability and very low extraction efficiency, we should use a finer grind size than for pour-over coffee. Generally, FrontStreet Coffee uses a grind with an 80%-85% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve, paired with a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio (for cold drip, it's coffee-to-liquid ratio), and 8-12 hours of steeping time (for cold drip, a drip rate of 7 drops every 10 seconds).

It's important to note that, as FrontStreet Coffee has consistently shared, the grind for cold brew coffee is not necessarily better the finer it is. Some coffee powders, after grinding, may become saturated with water and accumulate at the bottom due to high density or excessive fine particles, which actually reduces the extraction rate. If you find that the coffee lacks fullness and tastes weak and bland after using the parameters mentioned above by FrontStreet Coffee, try adjusting the grind to be coarser or using tea bags to package the coffee powder for steeping. This can effectively increase the coffee extraction rate and make the flavor fuller.

3. Grind Size for French Press/Clever Dripper

Next are the grind sizes for some immersion coffee methods. Compared to pour-over coffee and other drip extraction methods, immersion extraction has a higher margin for error because the coffee powder is steeped in water for a long time, with minimal disturbance to accelerate the dissolution of flavor compounds. Additionally, the concentration gradient helps promptly stop the extraction from becoming "bitter." Therefore, extraction methods like French press, Clever Dripper, and cupping that involve long-term immersion can use a coarser grind and steep for a longer time. Taking FrontStreet Coffee as an example, when using a French press to make coffee, we use a grind size with a 70% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve. This is paired with 94°C hot water, using a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio, and steeping for 8-9 minutes.

Of course, if you want to shorten the steeping time, you can also choose to make the coffee powder grind finer or add stirring. For example, like cupping, using the same grind size as pour-over coffee, then steeping for 4 minutes, and finally skimming off the foam/filtering out the coffee grounds to enjoy delicious coffee~

4. Grind Size for Moka Pot/Espresso

Finally, we have the grind sizes for pressurized extraction methods like moka pot and espresso machines! As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned at the beginning, because these extraction methods cause coffee to be extracted in a very short time, we need to use very fine grinds. However, because these grinds are extremely fine, we cannot use sieves to measure their particle values, so we can only determine if the grind is correct through actual extraction and the taste of the coffee.

Taking FrontStreet Coffee as an example, when extracting espresso, we consistently use the formula "20g of coffee powder to extract 40ml of coffee liquid in 28-35 seconds." We first fix the extraction recipe, then adjust the grind size to reach the target extraction time in the recipe, and finally determine whether parameter adjustments are needed through tasting. Since this is a lengthy topic and FrontStreet Coffee has shared many related articles before, we won't elaborate too much here. Interested friends can search for more information on their own. The coffee powder grind size used for moka pot is similar to that for espresso, though the requirements are not as extreme—something similar to flour texture will do~

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