Grind size is the key variable that determines the direction of coffee flavor, but grinders on the market have wildly varying scales, and the same number may correspond to dramatically different coarseness on different devices. How fine is actually fine? How should you judge something the size of granulated sugar? This article starts from the impact of grind size on extraction, systematically introduces how to quantify the coarseness of coffee grounds with the help of the Chinese standard No. 20 0.85 mm aperture sieve, and for common brewing methods such as pour-over, French press, cold brew, espresso machine, and moka pot, provides reference ranges for grind passing rates under different roast levels and comparison methods, helping you find the grind parameters suitable for your own equipment. [more…]

What is the first step in brewing coffee? Grinding beans. In recent years, with the rise of the specialty coffee wave, more and more people have come to enjoy drinking coffee, and at the same time, more and more people hope to fully experience the beauty and leisure of drinking coffee, so they choose to buy coffee beans and brew them at home. And so at this point, a [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). No matter what equipment is used to brew coffee, the coffee beans need to be ground, and the purpose of this is to allow the coffee's flavor substances to dissolve more quickly. Of course, not all of the coffee's soluble [more…]

Grind size is the key variable that determines the success or failure of coffee extraction, and different brewing devices have significantly different requirements for particle diameter. This article systematically sorts out the corresponding grind settings from French press to espresso machine, introduces the industry-recognized cupping standard and the No. 20 sieve pass rate as calibration references, and provides specific scale references for the EK43s grinder. Whether you prefer immersion or pour-over, you can find suitable grind parameters here. The article also specifically reminds readers that coffee bean density and roast level will affect the actual particle coarseness at the same setting, so it is recommended to repeatedly confirm with the same beans. Several Front Street Coffee beans are also used as examples throughout to help readers understand the logic of grind adjustment more intuitively. [more…]

Brewing a good cup of coffee makes grind size an unavoidable key variable. If the particles are too coarse, flavor extraction is insufficient; if ground too fine, it easily brings out bitter and off-flavors. But just how coarse counts as coarse, and how fine counts as fine? And how should you convert between different brewing devices? This article uses the industry-recognized cupping standard as its baseline and the No. 20 sieve pass-through rate as a unified ruler, providing reference grind ranges one by one for French press, pour-over, cold brew drip, and espresso machines, explaining how roast level and bean density affect grinding results, and finally including Front Street Coffee's approach to dialing in espresso extraction, helping you turn grind size from "guesswork" into "data." [more…]

"Excuse me, what grind size should I use for pour-over coffee?" "Why is the grind at setting 10 on your machine different from setting 10 on mine?" "When you say 'sugar-like,' do you mean caster sugar, granulated sugar, or brown sugar?" ... Are you still struggling to find the right grind size for your coffee brewing device? Front Street has an article to [more…]

The flavor expression of pour-over coffee depends to a large extent on the grind size setting. If the particles are too coarse, extraction is insufficient and the taste is thin; 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 have inconsistent scale standards, so how can this be expressed in a unified way? Starting from the principles of extraction, this article sorts out the mutual influences among coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, time, and grind size, and introduces the method used by Front Street Coffee of measuring grind pass-through rate with a 0.85 mm standard sieve, giving the basic reference standard of an 80% pass-through rate to help coffee enthusiasts quickly find a suitable grinding baseline when facing different beans and equipment. [more…]

Whether a cup of coffee is light or bitter is often foreshadowed the moment the beans are ground. The coarseness of the coffee particles directly determines the release rate of soluble flavor compounds—it must fully extract the pleasant aromas and sweet-tart notes while avoiding the emergence of bitter, off-flavors. This article focuses on four common extraction methods—pour-over, French press, cold brew drip, and espresso—explaining the suitable grind range for each, and introduces how to calibrate grind size with a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85mm aperture), so that every bean can find the right brewing coarseness. The article also retains Front Street Coffee's empirical parameters from actual cupping and in-store dialing, for coffee enthusiasts to use as a reference. [more…]

For more specialty coffee knowledge, follow our WeChat public account: FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) No matter what equipment is used to brew coffee, the coffee beans must be ground, the purpose being to allow the coffee's flavor compounds to dissolve more quickly. Of course, not all of the coffee's soluble [more…]

Grind size is one of the core parameters determining the success or failure of coffee extraction, but the coarseness of coffee grounds is difficult to describe with intuitive numerical values, so sieve passing rate has become a more precise way to communicate. In this article, Front Street will systematically sort out the suitable grind levels for pour-over, cold brew (cold immersion and ice drip), French press, clever cup, moka pot, and espresso machine, and provide specific passing rate references for the No. 20 Chinese standard sieve. Whether you are a beginner who has just started or a veteran player looking to calibrate your grind, you can find corresponding parameter suggestions here. The article also specifically explains the differences between medium-light roast and medium-dark roast pour-over, adjustment methods for iced pour-over, and the reason why cold brew grind is not finer-is-better, helping you avoid common pitfalls and brew a full-flavored good cup of coffee. [more…]

If you are a passionate lover of pour-over coffee, then you must know that the following factors are among the reasons that affect your coffee's extraction and flavor! So let's count them with Front Street: water temperature, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, extraction time... Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet [more…]

Grind size plays a pivotal role in pour-over coffee, directly influencing flavor presentation and extraction efficiency. This article uses Ethiopian Sidamo Candlestick (natural process, light roast) as a sample, adopts the brewing framework recommended by Front Street Coffee, and conducts a segmented extraction comparison across three different grind sizes—BG-5I (75% passing a No. 20 sieve), BG-5T (58% passing), and BG-7D (43% passing). The results show that too fine a grind lets bitterness suppress the tropical fruit notes; the medium-fine BG-5T releases citrus, mango, nectarine, and creamy aromas more fully, with a full body and pronounced sweet aftertaste; while the coarser BG-7D underextracts, yielding a thin flavor. The article ends with some tips on pour-over extraction stages and water temperature control for coffee enthusiasts' reference. [more…]

Grind size is the key variable that determines the direction of coffee flavor, but how coarse counts as coarse and how fine counts as fine has always lacked a unified standard. This article uses the industry-recognized cupping grind as a baseline, and with the help of the passing rate through a No. 20 standard sieve, quantifies the grind requirements for French press, pour-over, cold brew, ice drip, and even espresso machines one by one, and also includes reference settings for the EK43s grinder. The article also specifically reminds readers that differences in coffee bean density and roast level will cause the same setting to produce different particle sizes, and finally provides Front Street Coffee's espresso extraction plan as a debugging example to help enthusiasts turn grinding from an empirical judgment into a reproducible data-driven operation. [more…]

In the world of pour-over coffee, grind size is one of the key variables that determines the success or failure of a cup. If the coffee grounds are ground too fine, it easily leads to over-extraction and a bitter taste; if ground too coarse, it leads to under-extraction and a weak, watery flavor. So is there a reference standard for pour-over coffee grind size? Through extensive practice, Front Street Coffee uses a 0.85mm sieve as the benchmark, taking a grinding degree with a sieving pass rate of about 80% as the pour-over reference, and for medium-light roast and medium-dark roast coffee beans gives specific recommendations of a 75-80% and 70-75% pass rate through a No. 20 sieve. This article will systematically explain the mechanism by which grind coarseness affects flavor, sieve testing methods, tool choices for beginners, and Front Street's approach to grind size settings when brewing single origins such as Ethiopian washed Yirgacheffe, while also sharing practical points such as the three-pour method, coffee-to-water ratio control, and coffee bean freshness, to help coffee enthusiasts build a stable and reproducible pour-over system. [more…]

Grind particle size is one of the key variables that determines the direction of coffee flavor. Starting from the practices of Front Street Coffee, this article systematically reviews the influence of grind size on extraction efficiency in pour-over coffee, the grind standards suited to medium-light and medium-dark roasts respectively, and how to use a 0.85mm No. 20 sieve to test the pass-through rate. It also extends to the extremely fine grind requirements of espresso, explains the effect of the grinder burr spacing on extraction time, and provides the specific extraction parameters and flavor description of Front Street espresso. In addition, the article also explains the relationship between the choice of Moka pot coffee grounds coarseness and the oils it produces, helping coffee enthusiasts find a grind plan suitable for their own equipment at home. [more…]

Grind size is one of the core variables in pour-over coffee extraction, directly affecting water flow rate, extraction yield, and the final flavor profile. But with conical burrs, flat burrs, ghost tooth burrs, and other burr types on the market, along with the complex distribution of coarse, fine, and extra-fine particles, how can you find the right grind setting for your coffee beans? Front Street Coffee starts from how burr structure affects particle size, combines it with practical testing methods using standard inspection sieves, and systematically sorts out the grind passing-rate standards corresponding to different roast levels and brewing methods, helping you determine grind parameters in a quantifiable way so that every brew is more stable and controllable. [more…]

When you get an unfamiliar single-origin coffee bean, how do you accurately judge its flavor performance? Cupping is the industry-standard method. Front Street Coffee conducts cupping on every coffee bean it acquires, whether or not it goes on the shelves. This article uses the SCA cupping system as its benchmark and provides a detailed introduction to the equipment and parameters required for cupping, including sample bean processing, grind size calibration, coffee-to-water ratio, water quality and temperature requirements, as well as the operating procedures for dry aroma, wet aroma, breaking the crust, and skimming. After cupping is completed, the pour-over grind size and brewing water temperature must also be determined according to the roast level. Light-roast and medium-roast coffee beans each have different standards for sieve pass-through rate and water temperature selection. [more…]

Many coffee enthusiasts, after purchasing Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans, find that when they brew at home according to the parameters on the packaging, the taste differs from that in the store. This is actually closely related to the type of dripper—Front Street's store uses the Kono Meimon dripper, while most enthusiasts have a V60 dripper at home. The two drippers differ significantly in flow rate and extraction method, so the same set of parameters cannot simply be applied to both. This article will explain in detail how to adjust the grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and brewing water temperature according to the characteristics of the V60 dripper, so that you can brew a rich and full-bodied Golden Mandheling at home. At the same time, the article also introduces the method for measuring the 0.85mm sieve passing rate, as well as Front Street's grind size recommendations for different brewing methods, helping you grasp the extraction variables more precisely. [more…]

There are many factors that affect the taste of coffee. During the brewing process, the factors that influence coffee include the coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, etc. Among them, grind size can be said to be extremely important. There is a saying in the industry: "You can buy a cheaper coffee machine, but the grinder must be the best." It must be said that grinding really has an [more…]

When brewing pour-over coffee, grind size is often the key variable that determines the direction of flavor. Front Street Coffee frequently receives inquiries about how fine a grind should be used for a particular bean, but in reality, beans from different origins, varieties, processing methods, and roast levels each have their own suitable grind standards. Based on the practical experience of Front Street Coffee stores, this article explains the mechanism by which grind size affects extraction time and extraction yield, introduces the reference values for the passing rate of the No. 20 standard sieve, and explains the differential handling of medium-light roast and dark roast beans. At the same time, the article also discusses the concept of golden cup extraction and its true purpose, and finally uses Colombia Rose Valley as an example to provide complete brewing parameters and staged extraction techniques, helping enthusiasts brew good coffee that suits their own taste. [more…]