Figured out the grind size thing by shaking my grounds in a mason jar lid

I could never get my pour overs to taste right and always blamed my cheap grinder. Then a barista at this spot in Boise showed me a trick: put a scoop of grounds in a mason jar lid and shake it side to side for about 20 seconds. The big chunks roll to one side and the fine powder settles to the other. I did it before every brew for 2 weeks and my cups went from bitter and muddy to actually sweet and clear. It doesn't fix the grinder, it just lets me pull out the boulders and the dust before they wreck the bed. Now I'm wondering if a real burr grinder would make this step pointless or if I'd still do it anyway. Has anyone else tried sorting grounds by hand like this?

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sethc129d ago

Yo hold on, I gotta disagree with the idea that this makes a burr grinder pointless. Sorting by hand only pulls out the worst stuff, it can't fix the fact that every particle is still a different size, which is what actually causes the uneven brew. A good burr grinder gives you a tight range of sizes so everything extracts at the same rate, and no amount of shaking in a jar lid gets you there because you're just removing extremes, not making the middle consistent. That said, if it's making your cups taste sweet and clear for two weeks straight, keep doing it, results don't lie. I'd just say a burr grinder wouldn't make the step pointless, it would make it way less needed.

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