Rexada — Home Coffee Brewing | rexada.shop
A comparison table of grind sizes by method with contact time and common taste faults.
The governing rule is simple: a finer grind extracts faster, so espresso uses fine coffee and short contact while French press uses coarse coffee and long contact. Grind size is the variable you turn when the method has already fixed the contact time.
Brewing methods fall into four families — boiling, steeping, filtration and pressure — and each family sets contact time differently. Pressure methods force water through a compacted puck in seconds, so they need fine particles to extract in that window. Steeping holds grounds submerged for minutes, so they need coarse particles to avoid over-extracting.
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Grinding quality matters as much as grind size. Burr grinding produces a uniform particle size, which lets the whole bed extract at the same rate. Blade chopping gives uneven particles: the fines over-extract and turn bitter while the boulders under-extract and stay sour, and the cup ends up tasting like both faults at once.
Match the grind to the method, then judge the cup against the 1.20 to 1.45 percent window. If it is sour and hollow, go finer or extend contact. If it is harsh and drying, go coarser or shorten contact. Change one thing at a time.
Boiling methods sit apart from the rest: boiling was the main brewing method until the 1930s and is still used in some European and Middle Eastern countries, where the grounds are boiled directly with water rather than separated by a filter or a plunger.
Further reading