Grind size is the biggest lever in coffee and the one most people never touch. Change your beans and the flavour shifts a little. Change your grind and you change whether the coffee's any good. Here's the chart.
In short: the longer water touches the coffee, the coarser the grind. Espresso is fine like talc, a South Indian filter is like fine rava, pour-over is like coarse sand, French press is like sea salt and cold brew is like cracked pepper. If your coffee is sour, grind finer. If it's bitter, grind coarser.
The coffee grind size chart
Brewer
Grind
Feels like
Microns
Brew time
Turkish
Extra fine
Flour, icing sugar
100–200
3–5 min
Espresso
Fine
Talc with a little grit
200–300
25–32 sec
Moka pot
Fine to medium
Very fine sand
300–400
4–5 min
South Indian filter
Medium-fine
Fine rava
400–600
10–20 min
AeroPress (short brew)
Fine to medium
Table salt
300–500
1–2 min
AeroPress (long brew)
Medium
Coarse sand
600–800
3–4 min
Pour-over (V60, Kalita)
Medium
Coarse sand
600–800
2.5–4 min
Drip machine
Medium
Coarse sand
600–900
4–6 min
French press
Coarse
Sea salt, breadcrumbs
900–1,200
4 min
Cold brew
Extra coarse
Cracked peppercorns
1,200+
12–18 hrs
Microns are for grinders that show them. Everyone else should use the "feels like" column.
The rule behind the grind size chart
The longer water touches coffee, the coarser the grind needs to be. Finer grinds have more surface, so they extract faster. A 30-second espresso needs a lot of surface. A 16-hour cold brew needs very little, or it pulls out everything harsh.
Taste it black before you judge. Milk and sugar hide sourness and soften bitterness.
Where people go wrong
"Fine" and "filter" mean different things in different shops. A specialty roaster's "filter grind" is pour-over, like coarse sand. A South Indian coffee shop's is much finer, for a dabara. And "fine" usually means espresso, which stalls a steel filter. Ask for the South Indian Filter grind by name. It has its own article: the right grind for a South Indian filter.
A blade grinder has no real setting. It smashes until you stop, making dust and chunks together. The cup comes out bitter and sour at once. A hand burr grinder from about ₹2,500 beats any blade grinder.
Settings don't transfer between grinders. Click 20 on one isn't click 20 on another. Use the chart to get close, then adjust by taste and time.
New beans move the setting. Darker roasts shatter finer at the same setting, and dense high-altitude beans do the opposite. Expect to move a click or two with a new bag.
Dialling in, without a scale
Start at the chart's setting for your brewer.
Brew and time it against the chart.
Too fast and sour? Two clicks finer.
Too slow and bitter? Two clicks coarser.
Repeat until the time's in range and it tastes sweet.
Two or three brews usually does it. If you're six clicks from where you started, check the coffee isn't stale: does coffee go bad?
Grind fresh, or buy for one brewer
Whole beans keep their flavour for weeks. Ground coffee starts losing aroma within minutes and tastes flat within days. If you buy ground, buy it for the one brewer you use, in amounts you'll finish in two or three weeks.
Our coffees come as whole beans or Powder. Powder is an all-round medium grind for pour-over, drip, French press and AeroPress, ground the morning it ships. For anything finer or coarser, buy whole beans and grind at home. Velvet Mocha is the exception: it's sold in the South Indian Filter grind.
Not sure which coffee suits your brewer? The coffee quiz asks about it first and sends you to the right bag in the right grind.
Common questions
What grind size is best for a South Indian filter?
Medium-fine, about 400 to 600 microns, like fine rava. Finer than pour-over, a little coarser than espresso. Ask for the South Indian Filter grind by name.
Can I use one grind for everything?
A medium grind is the least-bad compromise. It works in a pour-over, a drip machine and at a push an AeroPress, but makes poor espresso, filter coffee and cold brew.
Is a blade grinder really that bad?
Yes. It makes dust and chunks together, so the cup is bitter and sour at once, and no setting fixes it. A basic hand burr grinder from about ₹2,500 beats any blade grinder.
How do I know if my grind is wrong?
Taste it black. Sour and thin means grind finer. Bitter and harsh means grind coarser. A brew that finishes much too fast or slow against the chart tells you the same thing.
Should I change grind when I open a new bag?
Often, yes. Darker roasts break finer at the same setting and dense high-altitude beans break coarser. A click or two is normal.
How long does ground coffee stay fresh?
Days, not weeks. Buy what you'll finish in two to three weeks. Details in does coffee go bad?
