Coffee Grind Size Explained (With a Grind Chart)

The short answer

Match the grind to how long the coffee sits in the water. Quick brews like espresso need a fine grind; long ones like plunger and cold brew need coarse. If your coffee tastes sour, grind finer. If it tastes bitter, grind coarser.

By The Killer Coffee team

EspressoFine

AeroPress and moka potFine to medium-fine

Pour-overMedium

Plunger and cold brewCoarse

In this guide

Why grind size matters
The grind chart
Too fine or too coarse? How to tell
Burr or blade grinder?
Buying ground coffee instead?

Grind size is the most overlooked part of good coffee. The same beans can taste rich and sweet, or sour and thin, depending on how they're ground.

Why grind size matters

Water pulls flavour out of coffee through its surface. The finer the grind, the more surface there is, and the faster the flavour comes out.

So the rule is simple: the shorter the brew, the finer the grind. An espresso is done in about 30 seconds, so it needs a fine grind. Cold brew steeps for up to 24 hours, so it needs a coarse one.

The grind chart

Method	Grind	Feels like	Our grind
Espresso machine	Fine	Table salt	Ground Espresso, or Whole Beans
AeroPress	Fine to medium-fine	Table salt to fine sand	Ground Espresso
Moka pot	Medium-fine	Gritty, not powdery	Ground Espresso, not packed down
Pour-over and drip bags	Medium	Coarse sand	Rip 'n Drip bags come ready ground
Plunger (French press)	Coarse	Rock salt	Ground Plunger
Cold brew (Toddy)	Coarse	Rock salt	Ground Plunger

Too fine or too coarse? How to tell

Sour, thin or watery: under-extracted. The grind is too coarse, so go finer.
Bitter, harsh or drying: over-extracted. The grind is too fine, so go coarser.
Sludgy plunger or a blocked moka pot: far too fine for that method.

Change one thing at a time. If you adjust the grind and the dose together, you won't know which one fixed it.

Burr or blade grinder?

A burr grinder crushes beans between two plates set a fixed distance apart, so the pieces come out close to the same size. A blade grinder chops them like a blender, leaving a mix of dust and chunks.

That mix is the problem. The dust over-extracts and turns bitter, while the chunks under-extract and taste sour, both in the same cup. If you're buying a grinder, buy a burr grinder.