Is it too difficult to make freshly ground coffee? A picture will help you understand coffee powder!

Drinking coffee is becoming more and more popular. Although the price of coffee in coffee shops is not that affordable, the trend of making your own coffee has come.

Today, Xiao Wei is going to talk about coffee powder, especially the coarseness of coffee powder and the matching of different utensils. I know that when you hear that you have to grind coffee yourself and learn how to adjust the appropriate coarseness, it really feels like a headache, right?

BUT, that’s all in the past!

Today I will give you a detailed illustration of coffee powder, so you can understand it in one second and fall in love with the enjoyable process of grinding coffee.

Why grind your own coffee?

In fact, many coffee bean shops will grind coffee for free, and will even ask you what equipment you use and the most suitable grinding thickness. So why do we still grind it ourselves? Is it just to show off?

In fact, the coffee powder we grind will increase the surface area of ​​the coffee beans by 1,000 times, making the extraction more effective. Different utensils have different methods and efficiencies when extracting. In order to brew the best taste, you will need coffee powder of different coarseness. If you only use one utensil to brew coffee, or if you are just starting to try drinking coffee, you can ask the store to help grind it for you first. Once you have developed a habit of drinking coffee, you can learn about the coarseness of the utensil that suits you, and then you can slowly get into the pit and grind it yourself.

2. Big move! Understand the coarseness of coffee powder.

The coarseness of coffee powder affects how much and how fast the coffee ingredients are released when brewing coffee. Generally speaking, the coarseness of coffee powder can be divided into five levels: coarse powder, medium powder, medium-fine powder, fine powder, and extra-fine powder . Is it a bit confusing? Hahaha, it doesn't matter! You can instantly understand the coarseness by looking at the comparison pictures and reference objects. In daily life, you don't use so many different coarsenesses. Later, we will talk about them one by one in combination with utensils.

(1) Ultrafine powder

Suitable for Italian coffee

This is the easiest to understand, and the usage is relatively absolute. It is only used when making espresso. Because the extraction method is different from the principle of brewing at home, it requires pressure, so the equipment is an Italian coffee machine, and the grind also requires a professional coffee grinder to be extremely fine. If you use a moka pot to make coffee, it is also more suitable to use extremely fine powder, but the extraction will generally be over-extracted. Although a little oil can come out, the taste is bitter, and the enjoyment of the process is often greater than the taste itself.

(2) Fine powder

Suitable for hanging ears

Fine powder is suitable for drip coffee. Many people think that drip coffee needs to be partially immersed in water, and should use coarser particles. In fact, it is mainly because the drip coffee is made entirely of filter paper, and the water output is large. Unlike hand brewing, which has a closing position, such as the three-hole filter cup commonly used now, it actually slows down the speed of water outflow. Therefore, drip coffee needs finer powder to increase the extraction area.

Fine powder is slightly smaller than fine sugar (fine sugar for baking or called caster sugar). Let's give another reference, salt. It is smaller than fine sugar and larger than salt, so it is right.

(3) Medium fine powder

Best for hand pouring

Medium-fine powder has the highest probability of appearing. The hand-poured kettle that everyone is easy to fall into, the beautiful siphon kettle, and even the commonly used household drip coffee machine are all suitable for using medium-fine powder.

Medium-fine powder ≈ white sugar (the most common white sugar in supermarkets is a little bigger than that). Generally, hand brewing will eventually settle on the coarseness of medium-fine powder. Because medium-fine powder is very commonly used, if you love coffee, you should try your own coffee grinder more to find the medium-fine powder that suits you best.

(4) Medium powder

Medium flour = granulated sugar (the largest particles of granulated sugar found in supermarkets are mostly of this size). Medium flour is slightly coarser than medium-fine flour, but the particles are not as large as coarse flour.

In terms of extraction, the speed of medium powder is slower than that of medium-fine powder, and the time is slightly longer. The applicable utensils are the same as those of medium-fine powder. However, it is recommended that beginners use medium powder for hand brewing first. After all, it is not easy to produce extremely fine powder when grinding medium powder, and it is not easy to cause a lot of water to accumulate in the filter cup and soak the coffee powder due to unstable water flow control at the beginning, thus causing excessive coffee extraction. In addition, due to different personal tastes, you can try more between medium powder and fine powder to find the coarseness that suits you.

(5) Coarse powder

Coarse powder is generally used when extracting with a French press. The extraction intensity of the French press is very high. The back and forth pumping and pressing will release the coffee ingredients much faster than other hand-brewing devices, so the powder should be coarse to prevent the appearance of too sour or bitter taste caused by over-extraction.

Finally, Xiao Wei hopes that everyone can find the coffee they like and grind coffee powder that is fun and suitable for them.