How to Grind the Different Types of Coffee Beans
If you want to take your at-home coffee brewing skills to the next level, remember: the absolute best way to extract the most flavor from your coffee beans is to grind them fresh before you brew. However, not all coffee varieties should have the same level of grind. The same goes for individual brewing methods, which is why investing in a solid coffee grinder is a great way to bring the cafe into your kitchen. Buying pre-ground beans, while convenient for drip machines, won’t give off the same aroma or flavors that freshly ground beans will. Additionally, using the wrong grind size for certain brewing methods can result in coffee that’s too thin, too thick, and occasionally, coffee that’s full of grinds, sediment, and off flavors. If you’re wondering how to grind arabica coffee beans or robusta coffee beans for specific brewing methods, Nguyen Coffee Supply has a step-by-step guide to grinding beans for every brew method.
Not sure how to grind arabica coffee beans or robusta coffee beans? Don’t sweat: we’ve got you covered. Here’s a quick and easy explanation of how to grind the two most popular coffee bean varieties.
How to Grind Arabica Coffee Beans
Knowing how to grind arabica coffee beans is the first step toward brewing your perfect cup of sweet, fruity coffee. Because of arabica’s uniquely bright array of aromas and flavors, Nguyen Coffee Supply founder Sahra Nguyen recommends using brew methods including chemex, cold brew, drip, espresso, french press, and pour over. While blends and robusta coffee beans will taste great in these brewing methods as well, using pure arabica beans will allow you to fully express the sweet tastes and smells of the bean.
Grind Sizes:
- Arabica in Cold Brew: Super Coarse (think: raw sugar)
- Arabica in Chemex: Coarse
- Arabica in French Press: Coarse
- Arabica in Drip: Medium
- Arabica in Espresso: Fine
- Arabica in Pour Over: Fine
How to Grind Robusta Coffee Beans
Now that you know how to grind arabica coffee beans, why not venture into that variety’s bolder, nuttier cousin, the robusta bean? (Fun fact, the robusta coffee bean has twice the caffeine content as arabica coffee beans.) Due to the slew of bold flavors and aromas found in robusta beans, Nguyen Coffee Supply founder Sahra Nguyen recommends using brew methods including drip and phin. For those who are looking to brew a large volume of coffee — say, at an office or in a large household — drip is the move. However, for the strongest cup of coffee with the boldest flavor and easy of use, picking up a traditional phin setup is the way to go.
Grind Sizes:
- Robusta in Drip: Medium
- Robusta in Phin: Fine (think: sand)
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Our personal favorite grinder? The Baratza Encore. We recommend a grind setting between 14-16 for a phin filter.
Should you get a grinder? Read more here.
Shop our Vietnamese Coffee Starter Kit here.
Shop our Vietnamese Coffee Trio and try both arabica & robusta coffee.
