Coffee Grind Size Chart
Grind size is the single biggest lever on flavor after the beans themselves. Tap a brew method below to see its grind setting, micron range, and a household object to compare against.
What grind size should I use for pour over?
Medium-fine — like coarse sea salt, roughly 500–700 microns. If your brew runs fast and tastes sour or weak, grind finer; if it runs slow and tastes bitter, grind coarser.
What grind size should I use for espresso?
Extra fine — like powdered sugar, roughly 200–400 microns. Espresso is by far the most grind-sensitive method: a tiny adjustment changes shot time by several seconds.
What grind size should I use for French press?
Coarse — like rough sugar or breadcrumbs, roughly 1000–1500 microns. Too fine a grind in a French press causes over-extraction and sediment in the cup.
What grind size should I use for cold brew?
Extra coarse — the coarsest setting on most home grinders, roughly 1200–1600 microns. Cold brew steeps for 12–24 hours, so a fine grind badly over-extracts and turns bitter.
Why does grind size matter so much?
Grind size controls how fast water can extract flavor from coffee. Finer grounds have more surface area and extract faster — right for quick-contact methods like espresso. Coarser grounds extract slower — right for long-contact methods like cold brew or French press. Match grind size to contact time, or you get under-extraction (sour, weak) or over-extraction (bitter, harsh).
Should I use a burr grinder or a blade grinder?
A burr grinder, if you can. Burr grinders crush beans to a consistent particle size, which is what makes a grind chart like this one meaningful. Blade grinders chop unevenly, producing a mix of fine dust and large chunks in the same batch — that inconsistency is a bigger flavor problem than picking the "wrong" setting on a burr grinder.