Is it possible that pre-ground coffee powder is better than fresh grinding?

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When you come into contact with boutique coffee, you must hear some golden rules, one of which is "always use freshly ground coffee powder, not pre-ground coffee powder", but is it true?

Let's see how the pre-ground powder is different from our own freshly ground coffee powder.

Reasons to avoid pre-ground powder

Why on earth are you grinding coffee? The aim is to increase the surface area of ripe coffee beans to facilitate the extraction of better flavor and aroma from the coffee. If we throw the whole coffee bean into the water, it will only produce a liquid that is as light as water and lacks aroma.

Grinding means that coffee powder is exposed to water to a greater extent, which enables the substances in coffee to be quickly dissolved in water, thus achieving the purpose of extraction. If you understand the basis of extraction, you will be able to know the advantages and disadvantages of grinding coffee powder in advance.

When the coffee is ground into powder, it will greatly increase the surface area, making the coffee more exposed to the air.

Coffee exposed to oxygen will exhaust, which means that coffee will release gases from the roasting process, and exhaust is very important to avoid insufficient extraction and bubbles of coffee. And grinding will speed up exhaust. The longer you grind the coffee and expose the powder to the air, the more flavor and aroma will be lost. When the coffee powder discharges all the gases, the brewed coffee will be very insipid.

Similarly, coffee powder is more vulnerable to moisture, when coffee beans are damp, it will affect the oil and flavor of coffee.

The surface area is also the reason why fine ground coffee loses its flavor faster than rough grinding.

Coffee without oil and aroma is not good, which is why the pre-ground powder is not well evaluated. Why take a well-roasted high-quality coffee bean and let it be ground into powder and exposed to the air, wasting its flavor?

Ken Selby, winner of the 2018 American Cup Test Competition, said: "compared with freshly ground powder, you will find that the aroma and acid richness of the coffee is much worse. "

Can it be preserved to make the powder taste fresh?

Is there any way to stop the decline of coffee flavor? Actually, no. But we can slow down the decline in some ways.

The suggested method of preserving coffee beans is also applicable to the preservation of coffee powder. One of the most important keys is to minimize contact with external environmental factors, including oxygen, high temperature, light and so on.

The method is actually very simple. Ken says that the best way to preserve coffee powder is to put it in a vacuum, sealed, opaque container. Avoid putting it in the refrigerator. After all, extreme changes in temperature and humidity are not conducive to maintaining the flavor of coffee.

Is freshly ground powder always good?

It's one thing to minimize the decay of flavor, but is it always good to freshly grind each cup of coffee? It's usually good, but it doesn't apply to every situation.

When we grind, we turn coffee beans into aromatic particles, but if we use a blade grinder or a poor quality grinder, we will get inconsistent grinding results, resulting in many coffee powders of different sizes and shapes.

Inconsistent coffee powder can lead to inconsistent extraction. Speaking of which, let's take a look at the extraction. The substances in coffee beans dissolve into the water at different rates, first sour, then sweet, and finally bitter. When you brew, you must want a cup of coffee with a balanced flavor.

Brewing and grinding the same coffee powder, you can expect the coffee powder to be extracted in the same state, which allows you to master the flavor and aroma more effectively.

When brewing coffee powder with inconsistent grinding, the extraction speed of some powders will be faster, leading to the problem of over-extraction. It is almost impossible to grasp the brewing results, let alone to recreate a good cup of coffee with these randomly sized powders.

Poor quality bean grinder will also be easy to produce fine powder, which will lead to rapid extraction, resulting in bitterness caused by excessive extraction. Coffee powder with thicker particles may also be ground, resulting in insufficient extraction to produce a smelly sour taste.

A technical specialist at Baratza, which makes the knife head of the bean grinder, says having a reliable bean grinder is the key to making a good cup of coffee. First of all, there is good quality coffee, followed by a bean grinder that can grind the right quality.

If you are looking for ways to improve the flavor of the brewed coffee, check your bean grinder first. Is the grinding powder stable enough? If the grinding is not stable and there is no way to replace the machine, you can separate these uneven grinding particles through a sieve.

When the pre-ground coffee powder can be better

When you can't use a good bean grinder, it may be better to use pre-ground powder. Your company or a store near your home may have a very good quality bean grinder. You may want to consider buying beans in this store and ask the store to grind them into flour.

If you buy only a small amount at a time and keep the pre-ground powder well, the brewed coffee may taste better than your own freshly brewed coffee.

Alex compares "powder that has been ground for a week" and "freshly ground powder with a cheap blade grinder". As a result, the coffee made from the pre-ground powder tastes better.

"this is a surprising result for me. I was convinced that even freshly ground powder using a shoddy bean grinder could outperform the flavor of pre-ground powder. But the flavor of these pre-milled powders is still good. In my past experience, the pre-ground coffee powder is either completely decaying in flavor or inferior to the powder made by a razor grinder. "

It may sound counterintuitive, but I would prefer to "use pre-ground powder from a good bean grinder" rather than "freshly ground powder with a razor grinder".

But remember that the finer the grinding, the faster the decay. If you want to pre-grind the coffee powder and store it, rough grinding will be a better choice.

Freshly ground coffee powder is better than pre-ground coffee powder may sound reasonable, but only if the same grade of bean grinder is used. If you don't have a good bean grinder, you'd better ask the shopkeeper to grind it for you.

You may be surprised to compare the flavor of two cups of coffee, one freshly ground and the other pre-ground.