Update: stopped grinding beans at the store, same beans taste like a totally different drink at home

Ruby Barnes · 2026-09-23T21:50:03.668073+00:00

For about 8 months I was buying the same medium roast whole beans from a place on my street in Portland and having them grind it for me at checkout. The coffee was fine, kind of flat and a little bitter, and I just figured that was how that roast tasted. Then my cheap blade grinder died and I borrowed a burr grinder from my neighbor for two weeks while I shopped for a new one. Same bag of beans, same French press, same water, same 4 minute steep, but the cup went from dull and chalky to sweet with this orange thing going on that I never got before. I think the store grinder was set way too fine for a press and it was dumping a pile of dust in with the coarse stuff. I started grinding right before brewing instead of the night before too, and that alone made a difference I could actually taste. It's kind of wild that I spent almost a year blaming the beans when the grind was the problem the whole time. Anyone else have a grinder setting that completely flipped a coffee for them, and what number did you land on?

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Update: stopped grinding beans at the store, same beans taste like a totally different drink at home | Coffee Enthusiasts - The Community Guide