Coffee Grind Size Chart

Grind size controls how quickly water can extract flavour from coffee. Use fine for fast methods, coarse for long methods, then let the cup—not the label on the grinder—tell you where to go.

The one-change dial-in loop

1. Pick the range for your brewer and use a consistent coffee-to-water ratio.
2. Brew the same way you did last time.
3. If the cup is sharp, thin, or finishes too quickly, try one step finer. If it is harsh, drying, or stalls, try one step coarser.
4. Keep everything else still and taste again.

Those flavour clues are useful, but they are not universal diagnoses. Water, roast, dose, temperature, agitation, and brew time all affect extraction. Grind is simply the easiest lever to repeat.

Why the brewer changes the answer

Espresso has seconds to do its work, so it needs lots of exposed surface area. A French press sits with the water for minutes, so it gets a coarser grind. Pour-over lives between them, and its ideal size depends on the brewer shape, filter, dose, and how quickly the bed drains.

The V60 usually begins medium-fine. French press begins coarse. Our AeroPress recipe begins around medium-fine. “Begins” is doing important work in every sentence.

Consistency beats a magic setting

A burr grinder usually makes a more even particle spread than a blade grinder and lets you return to a setting. That is why we recommend one in our grinder guide. It does not make the chart universal; it just makes tomorrow easier to compare with today.