The Ultimate Guide to Pour-over Coffee Grind Size: Flavor Extraction & Taste Comparison

The Impact of FrontStreet Coffee's Grind Size on Pour-Over Coffee: Common Grind Size Chart Introduction

Additionally, before deciding on the coffee bean grind size, baristas will first examine the color and oiliness of the roasted beans. Lighter roasted coffees have more complete and firm fiber structures, making them harder to extract, so a slightly finer grind is recommended. However, it shouldn't be too fine to avoid emphasizing sharp acidity. Darker roasted coffees have more damaged fiber structures, making them easier to extract, so a slightly coarser grind is recommended. Grinding dark roast too finely will result in bitterness. Therefore, the grind size for dark roast coffee is generally slightly coarser than for light roast beans.

Grind Size Controls Bitterness

Grind size is an excellent way to control bitterness because the finer the grind, the higher the extraction rate, making it easier to extract high molecular weight bitter and astringent compounds such as chlorogenic acid, quinic acid, caffeine, and carbonized compounds. Conversely, grinding too coarsely results in a lower extraction rate, making it harder to extract high molecular weight bitter compounds, but medium molecular weight sweet and aromatic flavors may remain in the coffee grounds due to insufficient extraction, essentially going to waste. Therefore, baristas must pay daily attention to whether the grind size is normal, as both too coarse or too fine will cause abnormal extraction and affect the coffee's flavor.

The grind sizes for various brewing methods, from coarse to fine, are as follows:

French press (coarse grind), electric drip coffee maker (medium-coarse), pour-over, siphon, and smart dripper (medium), moka pot (medium-fine), espresso (fine), Turkish coffee (extra fine).

According to research by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), French press coarse grinding means each bean is broken into 100-300 particles, each with a diameter of about 0.7mm. Electric drip coffee maker medium-coarse grinding means each bean is ground into 500-800 particles with a diameter of about 0.5mm. Pour-over and siphon medium grinding means each bean is ground into 1,000-3,000 particles with a diameter of about 0.35mm. Espresso fine grinding means each bean is ground into 3,500 particles with a diameter of 0.05mm. Turkish coffee is ground into flour-like extra-fine powder, with each bean ground into 15,000-35,000 particles.

This is what we call a grinder. With the same beans, a good grinder is the most important factor affecting flavor, and an appropriate setting is the most important factor in expressing coffee flavor. Therefore, to express the desired flavor, you should use the corresponding setting. Pour-over drip coffee generally uses medium-coarse particles (like gravel or coarser).

Many beginners often fall into a misconception, thinking that coffee should be ground as finely as possible, but the result is quite the opposite. Grind size control is the most important factor in making a coffee express its correct flavor. Of course, before making adjustments, you must first understand the beans you're using. If you're using medium-dark roast beans, such as Mandheling, adjusting to a finer setting might bring richer aroma and body, but also introduce bitterness and astringency. If you adjust coarser, it might bring some grassy aromas, but FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling would lose most of its body, which would be incomplete. Therefore, you must repeatedly test and adjust the setting until you achieve a taste you're satisfied with.

If you're using medium-light roast beans, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, using too fine a setting might produce strong acidity with very serious astringency, which easily leads to over-extraction, especially noticeable when extending extraction time. If using too coarse a setting, it might bring bright acidity, but the aroma and sweetness in FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe would also become much duller. Therefore, the appropriate setting is extremely important for each coffee bean. The optimal setting needed for each coffee's best flavor expression is different because grinders vary greatly, including differences between grinders of the same model. Therefore, settings must be adjusted by your own taste buds. After all, whether something tastes good or not is very subjective.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473