What Grind Size is Suitable for American Coffee Makers? The Difference in Grind Fineness Between Espresso and American Coffee

The Importance of Coffee Grinding in Brewing

One of the most crucial yet often overlooked steps in the coffee brewing process is coffee grinding. Most customers who visit FrontStreet Coffee ask the baristas about water temperature, appropriate coffee amount, or different types of coffee beans and pour-over equipment. Few people ask about coffee grind size.

Although buying pre-ground coffee has become a popular choice for many to skip the grinding step, coffee connoisseurs know that pre-ground coffee lacks the flavor complexity of freshly ground coffee. This is why many businesses now use "freshly ground coffee" to promote their products.

The Benefits of Freshly Ground Coffee

Regarding the benefits of freshly ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee would like to provide a simple explanation:

Even vacuum-sealed ground coffee lacks the freshness of freshly ground coffee. The main causes of coffee "deterioration" are: moisture, oxidation, and carbon dioxide depletion. Some compounds in coffee beans are unstable, meaning they can quickly change and degrade. The oxidation process begins as soon as coffee is ground.

Furthermore, pre-grinding coffee gives it a larger surface area, meaning more exposure to atmospheric moisture. Water can dissolve the "oil" components in coffee beans, so grinding accelerates the loss of these precious oils. Carbon dioxide affects coffee beans similarly to water. Therefore, if you grind your coffee in advance, it will have already lost some of its flavor and aroma. FrontStreet Coffee recommends grinding and drinking immediately. Of course, if circumstances don't allow this, you can store your pre-ground coffee in a vacuum, odor-free, and light-minimized environment.

Controlling Grind Size for Better Coffee

Beyond preserving the flavor of Americano coffee, grinding your own coffee also allows better control over the coffee bean's grind size. Coffee enthusiasts should know that coffee grind size is one of the main factors affecting coffee taste, and different brewing methods require different grind sizes.

There are many types of home grinders, broadly divided into manual and electric grinders. Electric gravers also come in three types. We won't elaborate further here, but interested readers can search for FrontStreet Coffee's official account or search on coffee websites.

In the past, there were also blade or propeller-style grinders, which have now been eliminated from the market due to their cheap price advantage. These blade grinders cannot adjust grind settings and control coarseness based on grinding time, resulting in uneven coffee particle sizes. They can be used if budget is limited or circumstances don't allow for better equipment, but they are not recommended. Of course, coffee ground with these grinders is not suitable for espresso, but can be used with equipment that has lower requirements for grind uniformity, such as French press and American drip coffee makers.

Understanding Grind Sizes for Different Brewing Methods

Returning to the topic of Americano coffee grind size, although the coffee industry now finely categorizes the relationship between grind size and equipment, dividing them into: extra coarse, coarse, medium-coarse, medium, medium-fine, fine, extra fine to match different coffee brewing equipment. However, for easier understanding, FrontStreet Coffee divides coffee grind sizes into three levels: fine, medium, and coarse.

For drip or immersion coffee equipment like Americano coffee machines, we use medium grind size. This is because during the brewing process, the grind size strongly affects coffee extraction.

Drip coffee and immersion brewing methods keep coffee in water for extended periods. If fine grind is used, the surface area of coffee-water contact becomes too large, producing bitter "over-extracted" flavors. The other extreme is using very coarse grind, which results in coffee with strong "watery" characteristics. So how coarse should Americano coffee be? You can tell by passing it through a sieve! FrontStreet Coffee suggests using a national #20 sieve to achieve a 70-80% pass-through rate, which we classify as medium grind.

Since espresso emphasizes richness, balance, body, and speed! Extracting coffee essence in just 20-30 seconds, we must increase coffee extraction through grind coarseness in this short time. Therefore, espresso grind is nearly as fine as flour (just an analogy), while Americano coffee machines use grind as coarse as coarse salt. Regular customers at FrontStreet Coffee may have noticed that when FrontStreet Coffee brews pour-over coffee with a filter cup, the coffee grounds still have some texture. This is because pour-over coffee extraction time is basically 2-3 minutes, similar to the principle of Americano drip machines, with slightly longer extraction time.

Differences Between Espresso-Based and Drip Americano

So what are the differences between Americano coffee made with these two different grind sizes? To understand the relationship between them, FrontStreet Coffee thinks everyone should first understand the differences between espresso and Americano coffee.

Modern Americano coffee is derived from espresso, as everyone should know! (During World War II, American soldiers in Europe tasted espresso and found its intense flavor unbearable, so they started adding water to espresso to achieve traditional American drip coffee flavor. Because this coffee was only popular among Americans and traditional Italians and Europeans disapproved of this behavior, Europeans called this coffee Americano. However, American drip machines are limited to hot coffee, while iced Americano still relies on espresso extraction mixed with ice water.

Regarding the flavor between different Americano coffees, FrontStreet Coffee believes it mainly depends on the coffee beans used. Drip coffee machines can use coffee beans of any roast level, while espresso machines work best with dark roast coffee beans. The longer roasting time gives them richer flavors, reduces acidity, and releases more oils, giving espresso a thicker, fuller mouthfeel. This is also what modern espresso generally pursues.

Coffee beans of other roast levels can also be used for espresso, but the resulting coffee beverage might taste strange. Because of the high temperature and high pressure characteristics of espresso machines, they amplify the characteristics of coffee beans. Light roast coffee beans will have noticeable acidity. But using over-roasted coffee beans to make espresso will also give you a burnt taste in the coffee.

Conclusion

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473