How Much Ground Coffee Should I Use

How Much Ground Coffee Should I Use?

The world of coffee is full of experts, jargon, and tools that can confuse the novice coffee brewer.

As a novice, finding an optimal brewing situation can be like seeing the wood from the trees, if you don’t know your stuff it can be hard to tell which brews worked and which didn’t work.

How Much Ground Coffee Should I Use

In our guid we have laid it all out for you so you can know the basics rather than getting patronised by a potential coffee snob. Read on to find out.

How Do You Grind Coffee?

You may be wondering if you can grind your own coffee beans at home, and what tools you need to do this. Of course, you can buy ground coffee, but it can still be informational to know how.

Coffee Grinders are cheap and easy to use. Usually, you load them up with beans and either simply hold a button down or crank a lever.

Coffee grinders are available in most home departments of your local store, or you can find them online like this one.

Why Do People Grind Their Coffee?

Grinding your coffee has many benefits. Firstly, when you grind your coffee in the morning it will be very fresh and carry flavors and complexities that pre ground coffee will have lost in the transport process.

If you don’t believe us, try it yourself and you won’t go back to pre ground coffee.

Grinding your own coffee can also help you have control over the size of your grind. A smaller grind is better for espresso brews, while a more coarse grind is best for the french press.

Why Do People Weigh Their Coffee?

Why Do People Weigh Their Coffee

Well, weighing your coffee can help you keep a controlled consistency on your brews.

This simply means that the next time you make a brew that makes you declare it’s quality, you will have a decent gauge of how much coffee you actually used, providing you keep some sort of quality control journal which can make your brewing experience fun and educational.

For the novice who doesn’t weigh their coffee, you can never really tell how much you are using, even if you try to measure a spoon this will change depending on how much you have heaped onto it.

To weigh coffee you will need an accurate bakers or jewellery scale. This is a great purchase in any cooking scenario so you can accurately weigh and make your coffee as good as it can be.

These scales are easily attainable online, see here. You should weigh your beans on the scale and then grind them up rather than the other way around.

How Much Ground Coffee Should I Use?

Now, the nitty and gritty stuff, how much ground coffee should you use? Well, ultimately this depends on what sort of brew you are making.

The amount of coffee used in a single shot espresso is going to be widely different to a french press for example. We will break this down accordingly.

French Press

The french press is a popular way to make coffee and can make coffee for a few people while still retaining large amounts of its quality.

For a french press it is generally recommended that you use a coarser grind which prevents coffee grounds getting into the main brew.

As french presses come in different sizes you should bear this in mind. A 3 cup french press should use around 17 grams of ground coffee for around 9oz of water.

For a 6 cup size use around 54g for around 29oz of water. Simply adjust for a stronger or weaker brew as you see fit.

Chemex Or Pour Over

A chemex or pour over usually requires a medium to coarse grind, for 25oz of water most baristas recommend around 50 grams of coffee. Adjust accordingly for the specific size of your brewing vessel.

Espresso

Espresso is a short or small cup of coffee that is usually equivalent to a shot of liquor in terms of volume. A single shot of espresso is weaker than a double shot.

The espresso forms part of many other coffee brews. We know espressos can be snobby or high class, but take a shot at it..

For a single shot use around 6-8 grams per 1-1.5oz of water. For a double shot use around 15 grams for 2oz of water

Final Words

This should cover the most common forms of brewing coffee. The best thing that weighing your ground coffee will bring is a knowledge of how strong you enjoy your brew.

No one can decide your personal taste, so the idea of a specific measurement does not match subjective taste. Get a journal and figure out the perfect weight of coffee ground for your specific taste.


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