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What is the Best Grinding Setting for Dark Roast Espresso Coffee Beans - How to Brew Dark Roast Espresso Beans

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, What is the best grinding setting for dark roast espresso coffee beans? Generally, most espresso grinders have a medium value which serves as a relative standard that can be fine-tuned according to your needs and should be easy to find on the adjustment dial. For making espresso, a single basket typically uses 8-10g of coffee grounds, while a double basket generally uses 14-16g. Other brewing methods do not require an espresso grinder; manual grinders mostly don't have settings, while electric ones use common

What is the Ideal Grind Setting for Dark Roast Espresso Coffee Beans?

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Most espresso grinders have a median value that serves as a relative standard, which can be fine-tuned according to your needs. This should be easy to find on the adjustment dial.

For making espresso, single baskets typically use 8-10g of coffee grounds, while double baskets generally use 14-16g. Other brewing methods don't require espresso grinders. Manual grinders mostly don't have markings, while electric grinders like the commonly used Small Eagle, Small Pegasus, and Zhengxing are more prevalent. Siphon pots usually use setting 3, pour-over uses 4-5 (with some variation in coarseness depending on the amount of coffee), French press uses setting 5, moka pots use setting 2. These are relative values that should be adjusted according to your personal preferences and grinder condition.

FrontStreet Coffee uses a Pegasus 800N espresso grinder. FrontStreet Coffee typically makes espresso with a grind setting around 2, but this requires daily fine-tuning. Due to various factors such as the bean's degassing condition, humidity levels, and machine pressure variations, the grind setting is not static.

Why Adjust the Grinder's Grind Setting?

When coffee beans enter the grinder, the blades inside crush the beans into powder. The smaller the distance between the blades, the finer the coffee particles become. Finer ground particles are more compact and dense, making it more difficult for water to pass through, thereby significantly extending the extraction time. Conversely, if the distance between blades increases, the ground particles become coarser, allowing water to pass through more easily, resulting in faster extraction. To use a simple analogy, think of rocks versus fine sand - water flows through rocks much faster than through fine sand because there's more space between rocks for water to pass quickly. Therefore, correct grinding is crucial, as particle size directly affects extraction quality.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that when making espresso, extraction is primarily done by machine. The machine's pressure, water temperature, and other parameters are fixed. The human-adjustable factors include the coffee grind setting, dose amount, distribution and leveling of grounds, tamping technique, and of course, extraction time!

Sharing FrontStreet Coffee's Grinder Adjustment Approach:

Using FrontStreet Coffee's "Premium Blend" as an example, FrontStreet Coffee uses the following doses: single basket 13-14g, double basket 20-21g (specific amounts should be determined by your basket capacity). The coffee-to-water ratio is 1:1.5 for single shots and 1:2 for double shots, with extraction time controlled between 25-30 seconds.

For coffee doses: siphon typically uses 10-12g per serving, pour-over uses 12-15g per serving with an additional 8-10g for each extra cup, moka pots should be filled to 80-90% capacity, and French press generally uses 10g per serving. Water temperature, grind coarseness, brewing time, dose amount, and roast level can all be considered variables within a certain range. Each parameter has adjustable space, but when one parameter changes, others must be adjusted accordingly. Therefore, if you truly want to master brewing skills, you can only rely on accumulated experience - there's no formula that can instantly make you a barista.

Pour-over kettles, French presses, and American drip coffee makers generally use medium-coarse grind particles (settings 7-6). Siphon pots and Belgian royal pots typically use medium grind particles (settings 6-4). Aeropress and moka pots generally use medium-fine grind particles (settings 4-3). Espresso machines and cold drip towers typically use fine grind particles (settings 3-2). Turkish coffee pots generally use extra-fine grind particles (setting 1). As a reference guide: medium-coarse or coarse particles are about the size of sugar granules, medium or medium-fine particles are about the size of sea salt grains, medium-fine or fine particles are about the size of flour but with a sandy texture, and extra-fine particles are about the size of flour particles with no noticeable texture.