How Grind Size Impacts The Flavor Of Your Coffee (For Better Or Worse)

It's a respectable thing to grind your own coffee instead of buying a bag of pre-ground beans (or instant coffee). It means your palette has reached the point where you can't deny that freshly ground beans instantly makes home-brewed coffee taste better. If you're just getting started with grinding your own beans, don't be surprised if the flavor isn't immediately where you want it to be. There's a lot to consider — what's your grind size, for example?

That term may sound like it's related to skateboarding, but grind size refers to the size of coffee grounds, not how many steps you can grind down. Are you working with big, coarse chunks or finely ground particles, and which is better? For help, we turned to Matt Woodburn-Simmonds, a former barista who runs Home Coffee Expert.

According to Woodburn-Simmonds, the size of your grounds has an enormous impact on your coffee's flavor. "The grind size affects how quickly the flavors from the coffee grounds are extracted while brewing," he told The Takeout. "A finer grind size will extract more quickly and a coarser grind size more slowly due to the 'surface area to volume ratio.'" In coffee terms, extracting refers to how well the water is pulling compounds from the grounds which adds big flavor into your coffee. Smaller grind sizes will get you more flavor more quickly.

Of course, it's not as simple as saying one is better than the other. There can be a point where grind size is too small, which is just as serious of a faux pas as a grind size that's too big. "If your coffee is too thin and acidic," Woodburn-Simmonds continued. "Then your grind size is too coarse, the flavor is extracting too slowly, and you need to grind finer for a balanced cup. If your coffee is overly bitter and muddy, then your grind size is too fine, the flavors are extracting too quickly, and you need a coarser grind." Don't confuse finely-ground coffee with instant coffee, either. You can't substitute coffee grounds for instant coffee because instant grounds have been brewed and then dehydrated (often freeze-dried) until they're an easily-dissolved powder.

As another tip for brewing an enjoyable cup of coffee, certain brewing methods require specific sizes of coffee grounds. Drip coffee and pour over coffee benefit from medium ground coffee, while cold brew benefits from coarse grounds due to its long steeping time. Espresso is brewed quickly, which means you want finely ground beans. Coffee brewing is about "time, pressure, temperature, and grind size." Each factor needs to be finely balanced to fine-tune the coffee's flavor, so keep your eye on the grind for best results.