One of the most important, and oftentimes overlooked steps in the coffee making process is the coffee grind.

Though it may be simpler to buy pre-ground coffee, the quality will be nowhere near to that of freshly ground coffee beans. Therefore, it’s important to understand the proper coffee grind required for different brewing methods.


Coffee Machine - Fine Grind
For most coffee machine types you should be looking to achieve a fine grind.
Although your grind can vary with different coffee beans, as well as different machines. Practice makes perfect, so start with a fine setting and adjust your grinder as beans can produce different grinds.

Stovetop & Press - Medium Fine
When brewing stovetop espresso, pressure builds up in the espresso maker which forces the water through the ground coffee. If you were to use a coarse grind, the water would not be able to extract the flavour from the beans.
If the grind is just slightly finer or coarser, it can drastically affect the extracted coffee taste of the espresso.

Filter - Medium Course
For pour over coffee, the best grind to use is a medium-fine coffee grind.
Since there are many different pour over brewers, each one will need a slightly different grind. You may need to experiment a bit more with this method until you find what tastes best for you.

Plunger - Coarse
Brewing coffee with a Plunger requires a coarse grind. This is because the coffee is steeped in boiling water, the contact time between the water and coffee is much longer, which requires a coarser grind.