The Daily Grind
One service that I like to offer at my coffee stand during the farmers’ market season is to grind the bag of coffee they want to purchase to take home, because they may not have a grinder for themselves at home or the office.
As willing and happy as I am to provide this for my customers, I know that the experience they are going to have when drinking the freshly brewed Storibord Coffee Roasters’ coffee will unfortunately be subpar not too long after they purchase it. This is because grinding coffee in advance cuts the shelf life in half, speeding up the staling process tremendously; eventually resulting in a mediocre cup of coffee. This goes for any freshly roasted coffee.
Keeping your coffee whole bean and grinding only the amount of dry coffee you need for each batch of brew is ultimately the best way to achieve the best tasting cup. And this is what I would recommend to any visitor or customer.
So what are your options?
Avoid the department store blade grinder. This is a type of coffee grinder that uses a single blade that spins to break up the whole coffee beans into a ground that can be use for brewing, or extracting, coffee.
The problem with blade grinders is that the grind size is very inconsistent. You will find very small coffee particles and large coffee particles mixed together. The blade can only do so much when it comes to consistency of grind size. Small, micro particles will get over extracted, while the larger particles will become under extracted, resulting in an unbalanced, mediocre coffee extraction.
You want to find a grinder that grinds your coffee to consistent size coffee grounds throughout the coffee bed in your brewer. The best option for this is a burr grinder. Though there are different kinds of burr grinders, they all generally grind coffee with very consistent sized particles. Burrs are specialized sharp ridges usually on conical shaped ceramic or lay flat on a metal disc.
If you do not mind investing a small amount of time turning a metal crank to grind coffee, the Hario and Porlex hand grinders are perfect for travel, affordability, and a great cup of coffee.
If you are looking for a more automatic version and do not mind spending a little extra, the Baratza Encore is perfect for a home machine.
You will notice a huge difference in the quality of your brewed coffee, simply by improving the consistency of your coffee grind size. A popular saying in the restaurant business is, "There is no quality without consistency".
Once you got your new grinder, be sure see what is new at the Storibord Coffee Roasters' Coffee Shop, and get ready to taste happiness in your coffee!
