I think the whole 'grind right before brewing' thing is overhyped for most people

I was at a friend's place in Phoenix last week and he pre-ground a bag of beans three days before and made a pour over that honestly tasted great to me. In my experience, unless you're doing super light roasts or espresso, a good pre-ground from a reputable shop is fine for 95% of home setups. Has anyone else done a blind taste test and actually noticed a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean_foster521mo ago

Two years back I bought a bag from a local roaster in Portland and split it - ground half there, kept half whole. By day four that pre-ground stuff was flat and kinda dusty tasting compared to the whole beans I ground right before. Maybe your friend's beans were just really fresh or dark roasted where it hides the difference, but for me the gap shows up pretty quick after 48 hours. Even in a pour over I can tell when the grind is stale - it just doesn't bloom the same or let the flavors come through. Not saying everyone needs to be a snob about it, but I've ruined a few bags learning this the hard way.

quinn_nguyen1mo ago

And yeah that bloom thing is real. I remember once I was making a pour over for a friend and they asked why I was so weird about making a little circle with the water first. Then they tried it with pre-ground and were like "oh wow it barely puffed up at all, is my water bad or something?" So now I just keep a little hand grinder on my counter just in case.