That coffee shop in Portland taught me to stop grinding my beans so fine

I was at this little place called Heart Roasters last summer and watched the barista do pour overs. Real casual like. I asked him about my home brew tasting bitter and he just looked at my grind setting on my grinder and goes, "you're trying too hard." He showed me how coarse he grinds for pour over. I was grinding way too fine, basically making mud. Went home, adjusted my grinder to something closer to sea salt size, and my coffee stopped tasting like burnt rubber. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you were overcomplicating something simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wyatt16d ago

Heart specifically recommends a medium-fine grind for their beans, actually. I asked them about it once because I kept getting channeling with a coarser grind. Their barista told me it depends on the bean, especially the processing method. Natural process coffees sometimes need a slightly finer grind than washed ones to extract properly.

taraanderson15d ago

So @the_wyatt, does the roast level also factor into that finer grind trick?

sarah_hart15d ago

Wait, does roast level change the grind size that much? I've been roasting my own beans for a few months and I'm still figuring this out. Dark roasts definitely seem more fragile, like they crumble easier if I grind too fine. That channeling issue is real too, I've had it happen with medium roasts when I tried a coarser grind.