We are in a good place in coffee history.
Comparable to our advances in technology. More than ever, people are very knowledgeable about the coffee they are drinking and the different methods of preparing it.
Cold Brew and French Press have found a new place at home, and in the coffee shop. That’s why we see a trend in coarse ground coffee brands.
But, although these methods are simple, they require the use of coarse ground coffee. The difference between an ordinary and a great coffee experience depends a lot on coarse coffee.
Let’s see why.
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Yet, the contact between the water and the ground beans impacts our drink’s flavor the most. Aside from caffeine, isn’t that what we want in a decent cup of coffee, a great-tasting cup? If we grind too fine, our drink will taste bitter. If it’s too coarse, a weak drink. To make up for one or the other, our contact time needs some serious adjustment.
Sometimes, we could alter the water temperature, but even there, we’re limited. Water boils at 212 degrees and not past that. If it’s too coarse, we would have to use way too much coffee, to compensate and still not come up with something drinkable.
If our coffee is too fine, it will take a longer time for the water to flow through the grounds and filter. Some concentration of nasty flavors would linger. The opposite is also true. Flowing too fast would barely extract anything tasty, because of the low contact time between coffee and water. The grind size will also affect your choice of brewing method, as you’ll see as you continue on.
The mesh filter would let small coffee ground particles sip through, and these don’t make your coffee experience too desirable. Your contact time with boiling water would be too great. Depending on your coffee variety, you’ll perceive too much bitterness. You could reduce the contact time, but the composition of your drink would be very complex. Components that normally filter out are now in your cup. They won’t poison you, but don’t taste good.
However, it adds a bit of turbulence to the coffee grounds as the boiling water rises to the top at intervals. So using too fine a grind will extract off-flavors as well. Just like with the French press, fine grind coffee produces a muddy drink. Using coarser coffee is key to using a percolator without problems.
If you want a cross between an espresso and French press coffee, then don’t follow our advice, and you’ll end up with a drink that looks like swamp water.
If one extracts all (or most) components from the bean, the other extracts the most desirable ones only. Many people with acid reflux problems can now enjoy the energizing effect of coffee, using this method.
Using coarser coffee in cold brewing ensures a balanced extraction. In this method, the grounds sit submerged in water for hours, 16-24 in most cases. (I like 16 for dark blends, 20 for lighter ones). The grind here could be as coarse as the one used for the French press. A little coarser works better. You could even use whole beans. However, cold brewing time has to be longer.
The last, but important, is the cleanup. It’s a lot easier to clean your equipment. Fine coffee makes a mushy mess. I know people in a café that quit making cold brew because they didn’t want to deal with the mess. The problem with them was, the coffee was not coarse enough. Their experience was frustrating.
Of course, with this method, you’ll extract more if the grind is fine, but other undesirable nasty flavors as well.
With all three methods, a coarser grind affects the quality of our drink. Although we can always adjust the other variables (water, time, and turbulence), in our discussion so far, we’ve seen the important role a coarser grind has in coffee quality.
Since we are on top of the coffee world in our times, it’s not so difficult to find coarse ground coffee brands to suit our needs.
Cold Brewing
Water
Your most important ingredient in coffee is water. Did I shock you? Well, if it sounds better, let’s say more “prominent.” About 97 percent of the coffee in your cup is water, only 3 percent coffee grounds. Clean tasting fresh water will always guarantee a good extraction.
When cold brewing, you want to use water that’s 40 to 100 degrees. I would use room temperature or filtered water from the tap. Where I live, the water comes out of the faucet at about 60 degrees, sometimes lower depending on the season. Now, after mixing my coffee and water together, I would put it in the refrigerator. That means that my water temperature will drop to 40 degrees. This change, the force generated to cool down, aids in the extraction. The same is true if you leave your cold brew outside at room temperature. The colder water will warm up to room temperature and, like the refrigerated option, extract an excellent coffee. These drastic changes have a positive effect on your brew.
Although the maximum temperature is 100 degrees, you want to stay in the lower temperature range. Water that sits, for long periods of time, at above 100 degrees, may develop microscopic pathogens. Exercise caution.
Coffee
Always use the coffee profile that you love. The proportions are up to the individual. A safe way to start is a 5:1 ratio. Remember that you will end up with about 30 percent, or more, caffeine than if hot brewing. You are using more coffee grounds. Additionally, your brew will sit for a long time, extracting loads of caffeine. Caffeine is very soluble compared to the other components in a coffee bean.
But what if you don’t want another gadget? There are a few things few you can do. It’s simple how-to ground coffee at home.You could use a mortar, but a dedicated one. You don’t want to end up with garlic tasting coffee. Or, you could use a cup and something to crush the beans with. Remember that you don’t need to pound hard. Most varieties of coffee will crush easily. Just use small quantities at a time. It won’t be a perfect, even grind, but good enough.
Another option is to use a clean kitchen cloth, fill it with small pockets of beans, and crush them with a rolling pin or an empty bottle. These are life hacks when no other options are available. Cold brewing is more forgiving of the uneven grind size.
You can alternately use a food processor. A few months back, I ran out of ground coffee. It was early in the morning and my grinder failed. It was completely dead!. So, my Magic Bullet did the trick. I actually went a little too fine. But getting a coarse grind this way is easy, just let it go. You might need a pulse or two to get the right grind. Learning how to ground coffee at home takes practice, patience, and ingenuity.
Technically, you can use whole or half crush beans to make a cold brew or even French press. The problem with that is you’ll extract a weaker coffee and waste expensive beans. One advantage of doing it this way is an easier cleanup.
Is Coarse Ground Coffee Any Stronger?
A cup of coffee beans and a cup of ground coffee have the same amount of caffeine. Nothing miraculous happened in the grinding process that would raise the caffeine content.
But, there’s always a “but”, uh? Finer coffee will come in contact more with the water and extract caffeine that probably wouldn’t have been extracted if the grind was coarser. Coarser coffee will come in contact with the water, less and therefore extract less caffeine.
That said, cold brew has more caffeine than regular coffee. Why? Please note that all recipes call for loads of coffee. Some go as far as a 1:1 ratio. Coarser coffee, in this context, will yield more caffeine per cup just because you are using more.
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Where to Buy Coarse Ground Coffee?
The places where to find coarse coffee can get interesting.Most local cafés sell beans to the public and will gladly grind it for you. Tell them what you need it for, and they’ll even give you pointers on how to use it. Others already sell it ground, ready to use, as a regular item.
Your best option where to buy coarse ground coffee is the Internet. One particular roaster and importer in the Northeast will accommodate any order and ship even overseas. With over 100 years’ experience, they’ve seen trends come and go. You could get coarse and even pulverized coffee if it suits your needs. They also sell Fair Trade Organic. Look them up if you are interested.
Our picks include a great variety of profiles bound to please most people. So follow our links and get good money to quality ratio. Get it? money to quality.
Nevertheless, doing it yourself is king. I have a friend who does not trust that task to anyone. She even roasts her beans in a pan.
