What Coffee Particles Size Should Pour-Over Coffee Use?

Pour-over coffee particles should be fine enough that about 80% pass through a 0.85mm sieve, a baseline FrontStreet Coffee uses to describe grind size in a single, unified way. Coarser particles leave the cup weak because extraction is incomplete, while finer particles pull out too much and turn the cup bitter.

The grind works alongside the other brew variables. FrontStreet Coffee brews at a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15 grams of grounds to 225 grams of water, with 90C water for lighter roasts and 88C for darker ones, though a 1:14 to 1:18 ratio is a common pour-over range. Water temperature and extraction time also shift the result.

The flavor performance of pour-over coffee depends largely on the grind setting. If the particles are too coarse, extraction is insufficient and the taste is weak; if too fine, over-extraction easily occurs and bitterness becomes prominent. So what range should pour-over coffee particles actually be controlled within? Different grinders use different scale standards, so how can this be expressed in a unified way? Starting from the principles of extraction, this article sorts out the mutual influence among coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, time, and grind size, and introduces the method used by FrontStreet Coffee of measuring grind pass-through rate with a 0.85mm standard sieve, giving the basic reference standard of an 80% pass-through rate to help coffee lovers quickly find a suitable grinding baseline when facing different beans and equipment.

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Introduction

The coffee brewing process is actually an extraction process, using water as a solvent to extract flavor substances from coffee beans, and the various parameters in the brewing plan are the most obvious and important factors affecting the extraction effect. These factors include coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, extraction time, and so on.

Among them, the coffee-to-water ratio refers to the ratio of the amount of coffee grounds used to the amount of water poured. A high ratio makes the taste weak, while a low ratio makes the taste rich. The recommended coffee-to-water ratio for pour-over coffee is 1:14 to 1:18. The coffee-to-water ratio used by FrontStreet Coffee is 1:15, with 15 grams of coffee grounds and 225 grams of water poured.

Water temperature and extraction time are easier to understand. The higher the water temperature, the more flavor can be extracted; similarly, the lower the water temperature, the lower the efficiency of extracting coffee flavor. When brewing lighter-roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee chooses a water temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, while for darker-roasted coffee beans it chooses 88 degrees Celsius. Extraction time refers to the time from when the coffee grounds first contact water to when the dripper is removed. The longer the contact time between grounds and water, the more substances are extracted; if the contact time is short, the taste is weak. FrontStreet Coffee's brewing/extraction time is about 2 minutes.

Grind size refers to the coarseness or fineness of coffee grounds. Coffee beans are ground into powder by a grinder. The coarser the coffee grounds, the weaker the coffee taste; the finer the coffee grounds, the stronger the coffee taste.

How does grind size affect coffee taste?

Grind size is also often described as the coarseness or fineness of coffee grounds. We also often describe it as coffee particle size. When the grind is coarser, the coffee particles are larger, and it takes more time for water to enter the interior of the coffee particles and extract coffee substances. Likewise, when the coffee grounds are finer, the coffee particles are smaller, and it takes less time for water to enter the interior of the coffee particles and extract coffee substances.

During brewing, under the same time conditions, a finer coffee grind can extract more coffee substances, so the coffee taste will be stronger; while a coarser coffee grind can only extract a limited amount of coffee substances, and the taste tends to be weak.

What are the common grind sizes?

Generally, coffee grinders on the market can be roughly divided into three types by grinding range: one is a grinder for the espresso grinding range, one is a grinder that cannot be used for espresso but can handle most grind sizes, and the last is a grinder whose grind range can be used for all types.

If we follow the recommended grind sizes of coffee grinders, we can identify several relatively common grind sizes. The finest grind is suitable for brewing Turkish pot coffee, then espresso, then medium coarseness for pour-over coffee/drip coffee, then slightly coarser for siphon, and finally the coarsest grind is used for French press brewing.

Espresso has a finer grind. This comes from the production process and use of espresso. Espresso production requires a very short extraction time, generally between 20 and 30 seconds. At the same time, espresso is mainly used as the base for making most Italian coffees, and enough coffee substances need to be extracted to support adding water or milk, so the grind size is very fine compared with other brewing methods.

The pour-over brewing method has a relatively moderate extraction time among many brewing methods, averaging about 2 minutes. Of course, 1 to 3 minutes is also acceptable, but the extraction time for most single-serving pour-over brewing plans averages 2 minutes. Compared with espresso, it does not require such a fine grind, avoiding over-extraction, so the grind size is medium.

French press coffee has an extraction time of 4 minutes or more, longer than pour-over coffee, so the grind size for French press coffee is generally the coarsest, in order to avoid over-extraction caused by long extraction.

What grind size should be used for pour-over coffee?

The grind size for pour-over coffee is medium or so among many brewing methods, but different models of grinders express grind settings according to different standards. So how should FrontStreet Coffee express grind size to customers using different grinders? At the same time, when we get a new bean, how should we determine the grind size for that bean?

To solve these problems, FrontStreet Coffee uses a 0.85mm standard sieve. This is a sieve with an aperture of 0.85mm; coffee particles smaller than this aperture will pass through. When using this sieve, we weigh 10 grams of coffee beans and grind them, place the ground coffee into the upper layer of the entire sieve, and by shaking repeatedly many times, coffee particles smaller than 0.85mm will be sifted into the lower layer. We then weigh the coffee grounds in the lower layer, and this weight relative to before sifting (10 grams) gives the pass-through rate for that grind size.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a grind size for pour-over coffee that is a little finer than medium, with a sieve pass-through rate of about 80%, meaning 10 grams of coffee beans can yield about 8 grams of coffee grounds.

FrontStreet Coffee needs to remind you that this is a most basic standard grind size recommended by FrontStreet Coffee, not an absolute standard. Once you already understand the mutual influence among the various factors in the parameters, there are actually different combinations of parameters. But if you are still a beginner or have not yet determined the grind size for a coffee bean, this grind size with an 80% sieve pass-through rate will be a powerful tool to help you find a baseline.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.