Grind size decides how quickly water pulls flavour out of coffee. Fine grinds give it up fast and coarse grinds give it up slowly, so each brewer needs a grind that matches how long the water spends with the coffee.
Order the grind we suggest for your brewer in the table below, or set your grinder to match.
Brew the way you normally would and taste it. Sour or thin usually means the grind is too coarse. Bitter or dry usually means it's too fine.
If you grind at home, move the grinder a small step finer or coarser and keep everything else the same. Change two things at once and you won't know which one helped.
Our coffee comes wholebean or ground three ways. Here’s which to pick for your brewer, and why.
| Brewer | Order this grind | Why |
|---|---|---|
| French press | Coarse | The coffee steeps for four minutes, and a metal mesh needs bigger pieces to hold back. |
| Chemex | Medium | Water drips slowly through a thick paper filter. |
| Filter coffee machine | Medium | Water drips through at the machine’s own pace. |
| V60 | Medium Fine | Water runs through quickly, so a finer grind keeps up with it. |
| AeroPress | Medium Fine | A short steep, then a press through paper. |
| Moka pot | Medium Fine | Our finest ground option, and the closest to what a moka pot needs. |
| Espresso | Wholebean | Espresso needs grinding just before you brew and adjusting for your machine. |
Ground coffee goes stale faster than whole beans, because so much more of it is open to the air. If you have a grinder, order wholebean and grind just before you brew. If you don’t, ground is fine: just buy smaller bags more often.
| If it tastes… | It probably means… | Try this next time |
|---|---|---|
| Sour or thin | The water didn't get enough flavour out | Grind a little finer |
| Bitter or dry | The water got too much out | Grind a little coarser |
Still stuck? Ask us anything about coffee.
