Now in my opinion the most important thing about any coffee is your grind, the farmer can grow the best tasting coffee in the world and the roaster can perform his art at the highest levels but if you’re grind is not consistent in relation with your extraction of your coffee , your coffee will be horrible. The extraction rate of coffee grounds increases with a larger surface area. To increase surface area, grind the coffee finer. The higher the extraction rate, the less contact time is needed. A finer grind can reduce the flow rate of water, increasing the contact time. When making coffee, our biggest goal is to achieve a controlled extraction. The final coffee flavor will depend on how many compounds are extracted from those roasted beans into our brew – something that is a delicate balance of water: coffee ratio, brew time, water temperature, grind size. The whole purpose of grinding our coffee beans is to increase the surface area coming into contact with water. And the finer or coarser the grind, the more or less quickly water can pass through it – affecting brew time as well as extraction efficiency. A coarser grind has looser particles which, in turn, will allow water to move between them more quickly. The combination of less surface area and a shorter brew time (unless it’s immersion brewing) means that less extraction will be taking place. On the other hand, a finer grind has particles that are packed closer together. This means water takes longer to pass through the grinds and that there’s more surface area – leading to greater extraction. Is your coffee mouth-puckeringly bitter (burned)? Your grind size is too coarse – go finer. And if it’s a acidic brew(sour)? You have the opposite issue, try grinding coarser. But there are several factors that help determine the exact grind size that’s best. Let’s take a look at them. WHAT AFFECTS THE IDEAL GRIND SIZE? First of all, personal preferences will always determine the ideal coffee recipe. So too will the coffee you’re brewing: depending on the origin, variety, processing method, roast profile, and more. So play around and discover your happy place. #caffeinezone #coffeeeducation #coffee (at Pretoria, South Africa) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_uTvYqhPvY/?igshid=5r18zjsfrske
