Tip of the Day: Grind your coffee to maximize its flavor

by Max Shrem, Posted Aug 24th 2008 @ 11:03AM

Coffee usually tastes better with freshly ground beans. But, if it's not ground appropriately the coffee will taste off. The key to understanding how to grind coffee has to do with knowing how you're going to brew it. The grinding and brewing processes are connected.

Below are different methods of brewing coffee beans with the appropriate ways to grind them:

Automatic drip - The length of the drip cycle affects how fine you'll want to grind the beans. For example, when it's completed in less than four minutes, you'll want to grind your coffee finer than granulated sugar. If the cycle takes longer than six minutes, grind it coarser. For the most part, auto-drip should take 4 to 6 minutes and should be ground not too coarse and not too fine.
French Press - Grind the coffee beans extremely coarse.
Espresso Machines - Generally speaking, it should be ground really fine into a powder-like consistency. Similar to auto-drip, the best coffee grind is directly linked to the extraction time. One ounce of espresso will be extracted in approximately 25 to 30 seconds. If it takes less than that, grind your coffee even finer.

It's important to bear in mind that ground coffee does not last long. So, you'll want to make sure that you grind beans for immediate brewing. After being ground, the beans' oils are exposed to the damaging air. When these oils disappear, so does the coffee's flavor.

Filed Under: Tip of the Day, Drink Recipes, How To
Tags: coffee, coffee beans, CoffeeBeans, grinding coffee, GrindingCoffee, tip of the day, TipOfTheDay

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-24-2008 @12:01PM Frank said... Excellent article. I agree with grinding the beans just prior to brewing the coffee. I buy freshly roasted beans because I have heard some in stores are somewhat old. You can really tell the difference. Never buy coffee already ground. A small grinder can be found in local stores for about $15 or at garage sales for $3. For an 8 cup brew I put 4 tablespoons of beans into the grinder and grind for 10 - 15 seconds and then brew. The taste is awesome.
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8-25-2008 @11:23PM rebecca f. trinidad said... just love you tip of the day today. thanks a lot
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9-01-2008 @9:32AM Joe said... It's always better to order your coffee online like at http://www.honeybean.com because they have more turn over and are able to supply fresher coffee. Some of the sites even offer Free Coffee offers like
http://www.honeybean.com/freecoffeeoffer.asp
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9-18-2008 @2:33PM Drinking Chocolates said... Another really great flavor for coffee, especially in the fall and winter, is drinking chocolate. I found a lot of info and drinking chocolate recipes at http://www.drinkingchocolates.com. Adding it to coffee or icing the combination is excellent! They even have additional flavors you can add, like raspberry or irish crème.
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