Grinding your own coffee beans at home is the best way to go, because it helps you get that perfect cup of hot fresh coffee, every time. Already ground coffee can loose its freshness, which can leave your morning coffee tasting stale. So you grind your beans at home to get the best taste.
But even if you’re grinding your beans at home, are you still getting the freshest, best taste in your coffee? The key to maximum flavor extraction actually comes in having the right grind for the coffee you love to drink.
Different Grinds for Different Brews
Making a great cup of coffee into a phenomenal cup of coffee is all about using the right grind on the beans for the type of coffee you want to make. Different brewing systems take different kinds of grinds, because they extract the flavor differently as you brew. So, a great espresso grind makes a lousy cup of fresh press coffee and vice versa.
Black & Decker wants to help you achieve your perfect cup of coffee with this handy guide that makes it easy to get perfect grind for every coffee lover’s favorite brew.
Percolator & French Press
For both of these brew styles, you want a coarsely ground bean. Too fine and you risk the coffee granules actually making it into your finished cup, for a gritty taste that won’t deliver on the smoothness you’re looking for.
When using your grinder, select a coarse grind setting and only grind for a short intervals to make sure you’re not over-grinding. When you’re done grinding, the coffee granules should look about the size of salt crystals.
Drip & Vacuum Brews
For these brews, you want the coffee to be a little finer to extract more flavor. The perfect grind takes a medium grin setting and will actually resemble sand particles once you’re done.
Espresso & Turkish Brews
Both of these brew methods actually take the finest grind possible—particularly in Turkish coffee where the grittiness mentioned above adds to the coffee drinker’s enjoyment of their finished cup. Select the finest grind setting and look for your granules to resemble talcum powder in their fineness.
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