Coffee Grind Size Chart for Every Method

Grind size is one of the biggest factors in how your coffee tastes. Get it wrong and even great beans come out sour or bitter. This chart covers the common brewing methods, along with how to tell when you need to adjust.

Why Grind Size Matters

Grinding exposes the inside of the bean to water. Finer grounds have more surface area and extract faster. Coarser grounds have less surface area and extract slower.

Each brewing method has a different contact time between water and coffee. Short contact times need finer grounds. Long contact times need coarser grounds. Matching the two is the whole point.

The Chart

Here’s a general guide, from finest to coarsest:

• Extra fine (powder, like flour): Turkish coffee
• Fine (like table salt, slightly finer): espresso
• Medium-fine (like fine sand): AeroPress, V60 with short brew times
• Medium (like regular sand): most pour-over, drip machines, Chemex at the finer end
• Medium-coarse (like rough sand): Chemex, Clever Dripper
• Coarse (like sea salt): French press
• Extra coarse (like peppercorns): cold brew

These descriptions are approximate. Every grinder’s settings are different, so use them as a starting point, not a recipe.

Espresso

Espresso needs the finest grind of the common methods because water passes through the puck in about 25 to 30 seconds. Small adjustments make a big difference, so a burr grinder with fine steps is essential. When you dial in espresso, grind size is the main lever.

Pour-Over

Pour-over sits in the medium range. The exact setting depends on your brewer and batch size. A V60 usually needs a slightly finer grind than a Chemex because the Chemex’s thick filter slows the flow.

If your pour-over drains in under two and a half minutes and tastes weak or sour, go finer. If it takes over four minutes and tastes harsh, go coarser.

AeroPress

AeroPress is flexible. You can brew with a fine grind and short steep or a medium grind and longer steep. Most AeroPress recipes for beginners use a medium-fine grind with a two-minute steep.

French Press

French press coffee needs a coarse grind. Finer grounds slip through the metal mesh and make the cup muddy. They also over-extract during the four-minute steep.

Cold Brew

Cold brew steeps for 12 to 24 hours, so it needs the coarsest grind. Too fine and the concentrate turns bitter and hard to filter. Getting the cold brew ratio right matters, but grind size makes just as big a difference.

Adjusting by Taste

Use your palate to fine-tune:

• Sour, thin, weak: grind finer
• Bitter, harsh, drying: grind coarser
• Muddy and heavy: grind coarser, or check for too many fines

Change one thing at a time. If you change grind size and brew ratio together, you won’t know which one helped.

A Note on Consistency

A grind size chart only works if your grinder produces consistent grounds. A blade grinder gives you a mix of powder and chunks, so the setting you choose doesn’t mean much. If you’re comparing burr vs blade grinders, this is the main reason burr grinders win.