Coffee grind size guide: which grind suits your machine
5 min read
Grind is the single biggest thing standing between you and a good cup at home. Same beans, same water, same machine — change the grind and you change everything. Here is how to pick the right one without buying a shelf of gear.
Why grind size matters more than the beans
Water pulls flavour out of coffee at a speed set by how fine the grounds are. Fine grounds have more surface area, so water extracts fast. Coarse grounds extract slowly.
Match the grind to how long water stays in contact with the coffee, and the cup tastes balanced. Get it wrong and you taste it immediately: sour and thin means the water moved too fast, bitter and drying means it sat too long.
Domestic espresso machine
Espresso pushes hot water through a tightly packed puck in about 25 to 30 seconds, so it needs a fine grind — think caster sugar, almost powdery.
If your shot gushes out in ten seconds, go finer. If it drips forever and tastes harsh, go coarser. Aim for roughly double the weight out that you put in: 18g of coffee to about 36g in the cup.
Stovetop, drip filter and French press
These brew slower and with less pressure, so they want a medium to coarse grind — sea salt for stovetop and drip, breadcrumbs for a plunger.
A plunger steeps for four minutes, so too fine a grind turns muddy and bitter and clogs the filter. Stovetop sits between espresso and filter: medium-fine, and never tamp it down.
Whole beans
If you own a grinder, buy whole beans. Ground coffee loses its aromatics within days; whole beans hold them for weeks.
Grind right before you brew, and only what you need. It is the cheapest upgrade in coffee.
Quick troubleshooting
Sour, sharp, watery: grind finer or brew a little longer.
Bitter, dry, ashy: grind coarser or shorten the brew.
Thin and flat across the board: check your dose first — most people under-dose. Around 60g of coffee per litre of water is a solid starting point for filter.
Daily Ritual, ground your way
Pick your grind at checkout and we match it to your machine. Australian Roasted Coffee. Australian owned small business.