Milling guide

The milling decides how fast the water takes the flavors out of the coffee. The finer, the more exposed surface and the faster the extraction; the thicker, the slower. Therefore each method has its own: those of short contact, like espresso, ask for fine milling; those of long immersion, like cold brew, very thick.

A size guide, with kitchen comparisons:

• Extrafine (40-220 µm), such as flour or sugar: Turkish coffee.
• Fine (180-380 µm), as fine salt: espresso.
• Medium-fine (300-660 µm), such as table salt: moka, AeroPress, V60, phin and filter from southern India.
• Average (500-900 µm), such as sand: Kalita, drip coffee maker, siphon and Clever Dripper.
• Medium-thick (600-1,000 µm), such as thick sand: Chemex, Clever Dripper, napoletan and pot coffee.
• Gross (690-1,300 µm), such as fat salt: French press, percolator, cowboy coffee and pitcher coffee.
• Extraordinary (1,000-1,600 µm), such as split pepper: cold brew.

These are guidelines. Each nude mill in its own way and each coffee behaves differently: the light-weeds are denser and usually ask for something finer; the dark, more brittle, something thicker.

The golden rule to adjust is to try and change one step at a time:

• Acid, loose or watered: thinner grind.
• Bitter, dry or astringent: thicker.

And always grind right before you prepare. The ground coffee loses aroma in minutes, and a good toothmill improves your coffee more than any new coffee.