Our Thoughts on Brewing Methods and Grinders

People often ask us what our favorite way to brew our coffee is.

Over the years of roasting and drinking coffee, I’ve gone back and forth between all sorts of brewing methods covering drip, pour-overs, aeropress, French press, siphon brewers, cold brew, espresso, etc… And really, all of them are my favorite. Brewing methods are truly personal preference, and I recommend experimenting with them to find which ones result in your favorite cup. Heck, I’ve even done an archaic pour over using a cheesecloth (or even a sock) as a filter, and it tasted great. They each have their own time and place. Even 3-in-1 instant coffee plays a role in my life when it comes to backpacking in the wilderness. 

But what REALLY matters for quality is the quality of your grinder.

The consistency of your grind particles truly makes the biggest difference regardless of which brewing method you use. Some brewing methods are drastically improved with a good grinder. 

How does grind affect French Press, for example? 

With an inconsistent grinder or too fine of a grind, French Press can be known for being muddy with a very heavy body. But with a coarse, consistent grind and a shorter steep time, French Press can offer more nuanced flavors and a much cleaner cup. Also, 3 minute steep time is not a hard rule folks. Play with it, try 90 seconds and see if you like that better. You don’t have to pour the entire thing, just take a cup at 90 seconds, and let the rest continue to steep. Then drink a cup at 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc… Even 30 seconds could be promising, depending on your tastes. Compare and see what you like. 

For a typical household, what grinder do we recommend? 

We swear we’re not being paid to say this, and we won’t even post a link to the product so there’s no suspicion of affiliate links or any of that. You can search it at your favorite home goods store and find it easily. 

The grinder we recommend for most typical households is the:

OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder (8717000)

It sells for like $90-100 or so, depending where you get it. There’s a cheaper “compact” version that I don’t have experience with, but I would recommend staying with the tried and true. 

What we love about this grinder:

  • At coarse grinds, it’s more consistent than most other sub-$1k consumer grinders.
    • We’ve tested a lot of them from the consumer-grade and coffee-nerd grade grinder brands
    • We even have a competitor’s $900 option for our own kitchen
    • Grind consistency comes super close to the one 9x its price
    • The difference is that the $900 one is designed for all-day commercial usage, but in a home grinder form factor
  • It’s reasonably quiet
    • Not the most quiet of any grinder we’ve tested, but definitely one of the best in the sub-$500 price point 
  • It’s pretty fast
    • It’s not commercial grinder speeds but it’s certainly a lot faster than most other consumer grade grinders 
  • Low static and good mess control 
  • Reasonable form factor that doesn’t take a ton of space or weight 
  • Doesn’t try to have any ‘smarts’, very simple user design 

Some things to be aware of:

  • It’s not an espresso grinder
    • EXCEPTION: If you have a consumer grade espresso machine with a pressurized portafilter (as in you don’t typically have to dial your grinds very carefully to get a usable shot), then you can use this grinder for espresso and get reasonably good results  
    • If you have a professional grade espresso machine that has a “real” portafilter (like what they use in coffee shops), then you need to invest in a good espresso grinder 
    • If you are considering going into professional grade espresso at home, be aware that grinders under $1k are going to lead to inconsistent and frustrating results
    • For espresso, we personally use the Eureka Atom 75 grinder, and we LOVE it 
      • It’s faster and quieter than any espresso grinder I’ve personally seen
      • Consistent as heck, I rarely mess with the dial much if I have the same beans
      • Wonderful shot consistency and flow rate
      • Easy to dial in 
      • I’m not finicky about single-dosing, so the hopper works for me 
  • It’s not a commercial grinder
    • Don’t use this back to back all day and you’ll be fine
  • Stick around the coarse half of the dial ring for most typical brewing methods, and you’ll get a lot more delicate flavors and nice body
    • Though of course, you can increase the body and decrease the nuance with finer grinds if that’s what you’re going for 

Anyways, we hope this is helpful for any of our customers that are wondering how they can really get the most of our their coffee - whether it’s from us or one of our other local Seattle roasting friends!

Message us on insta with what you find in your experiments, if you have any questions, or if you want to discuss this topic further! 

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