- Guides
- Dial in a new bag
Guide
How to dial in a new bag of coffee in 3 cups
Every new bag needs a slightly different grind. Here is a way to find it without wasting the whole bag.
The routine
- Cup 1: brew your usual recipe for the method, or a standard starting recipe for the method. Taste it and judge it as sour, balanced or bitter, and weak, right or strong.
- Cup 2: change only the grind, by one or two steps, toward the fix. Sour or thin: finer. Bitter or dry: coarser. Keep everything else identical.
- Cup 3: confirm. If it tastes right, repeat it. If it overshot, go halfway back. Write down the setting.
- From then on, adjust a little as the beans age. A bag often needs a small change after the first week or two.
Change one thing at a time. Two changes at once and you cannot tell which one helped.
What to write down
The grind setting, the dose and water weights, the time, and one word for the taste. That is enough to repeat a good cup and to see which direction the next one should go. The roast date helps too, because fresher coffee behaves differently.
Related
- Sour vs bitter: what to change
- Grind size chart
- How long after roast should you brew?
- Settings by grinder
Questions
How many cups does it take to dial in a new bag?
Often three: one to find where you are, one to move toward the target, and one to confirm. Fixing the recipe and changing only the grind keeps it to a few cups.
What should I change first?
The grind. It has the biggest effect and is the easiest to repeat. Keep dose, water and time the same until the grind is right.
What if I have no recipe for the bag?
Start from the roaster's suggestion if there is one, otherwise from a standard recipe for your method, and use the first cup as a measurement.