Back in the old days, long before any of these new fancy fangled coffee shops were weighing and measuring and temperature-ing, when all we had was our hands and the bean, ol’ man Dilworth was grinding. After enough sips, I noticed a difference in how my brews were tasting based on how I ground my beans. Well that got me thinking… what’s the ideal grind for my morning brew?
Coffee is meant to be ground! Have you ever tried to make a cup of coffee without grinding it? If you have, please shoot us an email because we’d love to know! For the average coffee connoisseur, grinding beans to the right size is the first step to creating a great cup of coffee, but what size is correct? What kind of grinder? What kind of burrs? We’ll be answering these questions and more coming up.
If you're looking to get your hands on some new equipment, we can help! We'll assist you in selecting the right equipment for your shop's needs and to start upgrading your coffee beverage game in no time. Check out our Equipment Services page for more info.
Grinders
First, the Bulk Grinder. A bulk grinder will take care of all a café’s grinding needs, besides espresso, and is an essential piece of equipment for a coffee shop. Two may even be needed for decaf coffee or flavored coffee (we have some tasty flavors on the shelves!). Bulk grinders range from a 1lb capacity to a 3lb capacity. An average coffee shop will do just fine with a 1lb capacity unless you sell a lot of retail coffee.
Why Can't I Use a Bulk Grinder To Grind My Espresso?
A bulk grinder is designed to grind large volumes of coffee, 16oz – 48oz at a time. It’s also designed to grind a wide range of sizes, from chunky-coarse to powdery-fine. A bulk grinder can reach the fineness of an espresso grind, but without any finesse or control. You will never be able to have great control over the flavor and texture of your espresso if you use a bulk grinder to grind it.
A key part of good barista-ing is workflow. If you only use one grinder for both applications, it would be very challenging to switch back and forth between different beans and different sizes throughout a barista shift.
Our coffee beans are picked and roasted specifically for a certain flavor profile, texture, and brewing method. Which makes it impractical to use a bulk grinder to grind espresso beans, and to use an espresso grinder to grind drip coffee beans. While it‘s true that any beans can be used to make any kind of coffee, using the intended grinder allows the barista to extract the most flavor from every bean.
Coffee is not an exact science! Each new day requires renewed attention from a skilled barista to pay attention to how the beans are doing, how they’re reacting to the water, and how that affects the taste. This is what makes coffee so fun and interactive, it’s alive.
What's So Special About An Espresso Grinder?
In a word: Control. An espresso grinder functionally gives a barista the ability to adjust the size of finely ground coffee beans to an exact degree so they can predict and repeat the flavor and texture of the desired shot. This is something a bulk grinder is not able to do.
Just like a bulk grinder is designed to grind large volumes of beans, an espresso grinder is designed to grinder a very small volume of beans; only between 10g-20g at a time. In this sense, espresso is quite unique when compared to other coffee recipes; espresso is singular in its preparation compared to other standard café beverages. So much so that most cafés put their espresso machine at the center of the café, so everything revolves around it (which it does).
It makes sense that coffee people stress so much about grind size, extraction time, puck compression, and crema thickness. At the center of all these fancy terms is the espresso grinder. Besides a working espresso machine and tamping technique, the espresso grinder is the main tool a barista has to affect and change the finished espresso.
Burrs
Inside of every grinder are two serrated metal blades called burrs. When you change the dial on a bulk grinder or an espresso grinder, you’re moving these serrated blades closer together or further apart. The space between these blades determines how fine or coarse the coffee will be ground. This goes for flat burrs, or conical burrs. Depending on how busy your coffee shop (or home kitchen) is, your burrs will need replacing at different rates. Generally, a busy coffee shop that goes through 90lbs of espresso each week will need to replace the burrs of their grinder 2 or 3 times a year.
Brewing Methods
Brewing is all about extraction, which is the process of exposing water at a certain temperature to coffee– ground to a certain size–for a certain amount of time. These variables combined will give you an over-extracted cup, an under-extracted up, or a “perfectly” extracted cup. We write perfect in quotes because everyone’s taste is different.
The perfect cup will be different for everyone, but some principles stay the same. An over-extracted cup of coffee will taste bitter, astringent, and tannic. An under-extracted cup will taste sour, acidic, and even vegetal sometimes. Correct brewing methods are extremely important; here are a few of the most common brewing methods that we need to go over.
Auto-Drip Brew
This is going to be the standard drinking experience for coffee drinkers: drip coffee. Most people have a drip coffee machine in their kitchen, and any coffee shop everywhere will serve it. You should use a bulk grinder for this application, and it should be ground to a medium grind (sea salt).
French Press
The French press has fell out of popularity in recent years, but it’s still a well-known and popular way to drink your morning joe. You should use a bulk grinder for this application, and it should be ground to a coarse grind (chunky).
Espresso
A coffee shop staple. Very concentrated and used for many different café beverages. You should use an espresso grinder for this application, and it should be ground to a fine grind (very fine table salt).
Pour Over
The pour over has sort of taken the place of the French Press in homes and coffee shops because of the increased control provided to the barista, and the smoothness of flavor delivered by the coffee. You should use a bulk grinder for this application, and it should be ground to a medium-coarse grind (less chunky).
Happy Brewing!