Is Grinding Fresh Always Better?
Added 2025-08-22 14:16:00 +0000 UTCHere's today's video, ad-free, and I hope you enjoy it. It's a fun topic, and I genuinely really enjoyed getting to do a comparative tasting of one coffee going stale over time. It stales both as you'd expect, but also in a way you don't expect.
In particular, the consumer-focused tasting was fascinating. It is a very good reminder that the data you have is only as good as the question you ask - but the results were so interesting that we felt that we should include them even if they didn't precisely line up with the theory of the video.
It definitely makes me want to do a consumer test where we ask for preference for one group, then do offer a framework for the 2nd group, to see if it produces notably different results.
Hope you enjoy! Feedback and thoughts always welcome!
James
Comments
"Sloppy human me bag"
AJ Ong
2025-09-06 17:45:51 +0000 UTCHaving just bought an oxo grinder as a 'cheap' good electric grinder, this makes me feel better about the purchase 😂
dreamy
2025-08-23 22:57:27 +0000 UTCI would note that the coffee is also aging during our experiment, which is another variable that's hard to separate from the grinder changes. Unless of course you used sufficiently rested, frozen coffee for all the tests. That would even the playing field a little I think, as two weeks' test can sometimes make a noticeable difference in a coffee (for us weird coffee people, at least), for better or worse.
Bori Vekony
2025-08-23 15:21:16 +0000 UTCMy guess is that espresso roasts tend towards being darker. Dark roasts will mute finer flavors and have that more chocolately "heavier" overtone. Watch Lance cringe whenever he drinks an espresso roast to get my point. 🤣 Most people buying espresso aren't looking for hints of jasmine and stone fruit in their cup. (Yes, I'm generalizing but weird coffee people are a minority.)
Jay Berringer
2025-08-23 12:58:54 +0000 UTCWe take an Aeropress on holiday and until we got a hand grinder we would grind enough coffee before we went. I can’t say that I noticed a difference. Next time I will take beans and ground coffee and see if I can. Although that means grinding a week’s worth of coffee in the hand grinder. 😬
Paul Benbow
2025-08-23 12:58:09 +0000 UTCSomething I learned at a coffee farm when tasting specialty. Of the 4 coffees we tasted, all prepared with a French press, they included a "ringer", that is supermarket coffee. You would be surprised at how many people chose the supermarket coffee as the most tasty. This, we were told, wasn't a surprise in that we hew towards what we are most familiar with in our preferences. If those 90 people (minus the baristas) are used to drinking mostly supermarket pre-ground at home and the occasional cafe coffee then perhaps those statistics bear this out. The "flaw" such that it is is not getting more info on the taster's backgrounds and habits, which would give the data a bit more context. Still, it is an interesting topic. As an aside, my gf said that before she met me she didn't know that different coffees have different flavor profiles. She's now a V60 convert who will ask which coffee she's drinking if she notices a major shift in flavor. So there's hope for the unwashed yet. 🤣
Jay Berringer
2025-08-23 12:54:32 +0000 UTCSuch an interesting topic, I might actually try that, eventually, when I have a bit more space and time. Very surprised that freezing the ground coffee only made a negligible difference at best. I'm also very surprised that the blade grinder actually seems to have done a better job than the false burrs. I guess it goes to show that false burrs really do just kinda suck, confirms my experience with them, too. Very interesting video!
Jo.Comics
2025-08-23 09:06:57 +0000 UTCThank you James. I'd wondered about this precise topic before -- a problem with "rules of thumb" is that they often greatly simplify situations, ignoring nuance.
Wtcher
2025-08-23 04:38:36 +0000 UTCEnjoyed this video! I have a related question - do you have any thoughts about grinding “too fresh” coffee ahead to simulate resting or speed up some of the CO2 release? I know Patrik Rolf, for example, competed in 2019 with some very fresh coffee roasted on an ikawa (brewed ~6 hours off roast) and ground about 1 hour before brewing. I know at the April shop, they also pre-dose and pre-grind all of their coffee before that day’s service, either earlier that morning or the evening before. I believe the reasoning is partially from a workflow and cafe experience perspective (no grinder noise!), but also some potential sensory benefits, like perhaps mellowing out unpleasant “gassy” flavors. So I guess the question at the heart of this comment is whether there could be benefits to grinding ahead, but within the 24-hour period before brewing? Or would we see a similar decline as in days 1-16 shown in the video? I’m definitely going to do some exploring at home as well!
Justin Best
2025-08-23 01:26:56 +0000 UTCFor espresso drinkers, the preference for a blade grinder at 14:05 is somewhat surprising, especially when compared to something like the Baratza. What do you think could explain this choice?
Rahul
2025-08-22 20:50:07 +0000 UTCYou should do a t-shirt ala andy warhol but with all the faces from your graph. Call it James' moment of sudden delight
Hector Morales
2025-08-22 20:30:21 +0000 UTCThis has made me feel fantastic about my Baratza Encore that I use for percolation brewing!
Michael Forshaw
2025-08-22 20:29:48 +0000 UTCFor years I was a "Bag of mostly water" (StarTrek ref) now I will be known as a "Sloppy human meatbag"
Andre Vandal
2025-08-22 19:22:53 +0000 UTCDid you account for the staling of the coffee itself? That freshly-ground coffee was presumably from beans that were at least 14 days older than the stalest preground.
fluffy
2025-08-22 17:17:56 +0000 UTCI have to wonder how a super cheap burr grinder like the Hario Slim would have fared here. I imagine that the gap in quality between the blade/false burrs and the Baratza is enormous, so I feel like the Hario or something like it would have had a comfortable spot in this test.
Dylan
2025-08-22 16:08:28 +0000 UTCI frequently enjoy grinding my coffee while musing on which biscuits pair best with specialty coffee. James, do you have an insight on this? Hobnobs do NOT count
JJ McGuckin
2025-08-22 15:36:03 +0000 UTC-- Sincerely, reviewer #2
Alex Altair
2025-08-22 15:11:46 +0000 UTCGreat video! I do have a data nitpick. I know the graph at 3:00 is mostly for the lulz but I get a bit irked that the x-axis doesn't do anything to indicate the pretty big break between 2 and 7.
Alex Altair
2025-08-22 15:11:22 +0000 UTC"I'm a sloppy human meatbag" Possibly my new favorite Hoffmann quote.
Michael Richardson
2025-08-22 15:08:38 +0000 UTCAnother wrinkle: is one’s palette a constant over several days? I am betting that everything is moving: the coffee, the roast, the rate of oxidation, the changes in the way one’s palette responds to the same coffee over a series of days.
Patrick Daily
2025-08-22 15:00:36 +0000 UTCMore bag like each year here. Kinda like a reused plastic shopping bag at this point. Probably the same plastic content too.
Michael Blank
2025-08-22 14:55:29 +0000 UTCFascinating. Annoying inconclusive, but fascinating all the same.
Steve Morgan
2025-08-22 14:50:23 +0000 UTCEven at the poshest coffee place, how sophisticated would the 'average' coffee drinker who patronizes the place really be to be nuanced or consistent enough about what they are tasting, even with prompting? You did get a good sample size, but humans are not 'average' or 'consistent' in taste. You did well with your survey.
ChrisC1966
2025-08-22 14:42:31 +0000 UTCWhenever I go camping, I'm always the "coffee guy" for my tent mates. And I often go to GREAT LENGTHS to bring along either a hand grinder, or sometimes a blade grinder if I'm brewing for a crowd. So, THANK YOU! Now I can skip all of that, grind up some coffee the morning we pack up, and know it'll be just as good if not better! Saves me SO MUCH effort!
Jeff Leyser
2025-08-22 14:39:29 +0000 UTCi too am a sloppy human meat bag, nice to meat you
Kieran C
2025-08-22 14:28:08 +0000 UTC
