I've been grinding my beans way too fine for years

A barista friend watched me make a cup and just said, 'that looks like dust, man.' I tried a coarser grind this morning and my usual beans tasted totally different (in a good way). Has anyone else had a simple tip completely flip their routine?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisa_jones2122d agoTop Commenter

The water temp thing is basically the hidden boss of coffee problems. Everyone blames the beans or the grinder but the water is just silently ruining everything. I had a similar moment with my own setup, tried letting the kettle sit for thirty seconds after boiling and suddenly my medium roast had this fruity flavor I'd never tasted. Makes you wonder what other small dumb thing we're all doing wrong without realizing it. Once you fix one variable, you start noticing all the other ones too.

ivan2112mo ago

Watched a buddy of mine drown his coffee for months... always bitter and he couldn't figure it out. Turned out his machine's water was way too hot, like almost boiling. Someone told him to let it cool for thirty seconds after the light went off. The change was insane... his same cheap beans suddenly tasted smooth, almost sweet. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. Just one little thing he never thought to check.

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the_sarah2mo ago

That line about him looking like he'd seen a ghost is so real. I used to be sure bitter coffee just meant bad beans. Then I read a tip from someone like @ivan211 about water temp. Tried it with my own machine, just waiting a minute after the brew cycle. My usual dark roast went from tasting like burnt dirt to having actual chocolate notes. It's wild how one setting you ignore can ruin everything.