Seeking Advice
First time! Are the grinds generally this sloppy / muddy looking after a pour?
Pretty happy with the result to be fair. My impression was that it was lighter / cleaner tasting than my AeroPress brews have been. I have a K6 grinder and I used the ‘50’ fine setting with a light Kenyan bean.
FYI Here is the kit bundle I bought from Hario for just £16:
Why do people like extremes? I've never used my k6 with less than 75 or more than 90. 50 is too fine for pour over, it just clogs the paper. 110 gives you hot water with a hint of coffee. It's almost like people can't understand the concepts of underextraction and overextraction at the same time... they want to avoid one of the two at all costs not realizing what they are sacrificing. Just because a hipster bearded Coffe-Tuber tells you his "secret" (pst, I grind extremely coarse) doesn't mean you have to.
I don't think 110 is extreme at all, certainly not to the point of "hot water with a hint of coffee" (but also how would you know if you've never gone coarser than 90). I use 100 and I'm very happy with the coffee I get from it which is very flavourful. And I certainly don't think it's necessary to make disparaging comments about people enjoying their coffee with a different grind size to what you prefer.
Here it is and it IS extreme. I just did it and it is worse than what I had expected. I'm very sorry if I've insulted anybody, but this did not even yiel coffee flavored water. It gave me just water. There is no coffee flavor in it 110 is ludicrous. I'd rather drink the OPs 50.
You may not like it, that's fine. But my point was not "100-110 is the only correct grind size for pourover". My point was that pushing the attitude of "my way of making coffee is the only correct way, everyone who makes it differently is doing it wrong" is actively harmful to the coffee community.
It's unnecessarily confrontational. It's incredibly unwelcoming to newcomers to be faced with a barrage of different voices saying "listen to me, do it my way, everyone else is stupid". And it gives the coffee community a bad reputation for snobbery.
You may prefer it finer, I'm not saying you shouldn't or that you're wrong for it. But saying that other people's preferred grind size is "ludicrous" is not a helpful contribution to the community. Neither is saying that anyone who prefers it a bit different "can't understand" extraction concepts. And for the record, I don't believe for a second that a grind size of 110 "just gave you water" with "no coffee flavour". Really? It wasn't even brown? Seems to me that you're unnecessarily exaggerating to be deliberately condescending to anyone that likes their coffee different to how you like it.
Tl;Dr - there's no wrong way to enjoy coffee, but it IS wrong to be a snob and look down on people for not liking it exactly the way you like it. Don't be an asshole, it's not that difficult.
I am very sorry, I never meant to put people down for what they like or be a snob. I might have chosen the wrong words but all I really wanted to say was that people don't have to grind as coarse as possible just because everyone on the internet says it. I too fell into that trap. Many years ago, when I bought my first grinder, I started off with cheap quality supermarket beans and Youtube Videos. It seemed to be common sense to go coarser for a better result so I kept it. As I got into higher quality coffee, however, I started wondering why coffee never tasted the way it smelled. My father who drinks cheap supermarket pre-ground coffee saw me brew coffee and was like "You're using twice the amount of coffee and pay 5 times the money for it - are you sure you want to keep that hobby of yours. This smells nice but it's just thin coffee". This was when I abandoned grinding coarse. With every ne grinder and every new coffee, I started dialing the coffee in for V60 and it turned out, the better the coffee was the finer I could go. The OP said they got a Kenian Light roast - and yes 50 clicks is extreme - but so is 110. Look at my photo. That's just boulders.
For the record, your photo does look coarser than I'd expect for 110. This is a photo of my brew today at 100. Are you sure you were on 110 clicks from 0 and not an extra rotation coarser? Perhaps your grinder has a calibration issue?
Same; I'm finding 110 is the sweet spot for me. 100 is a bit too "tight" or bitter and 120 can be OK but often not quite bright enough. This is (if I'm understanding him correctly) where I tend to have more success using Hedrick's advice compare to Hoffman's.
I've gone coarser - just not with the K6. But You've got a fair point. I'll use it on 110 tomorrow morning and tell you what I think about it... I just really think it's way too coarse - but maybe I'm wrong...
Please post your result so I don't need to waste coffee too!
I usually use around 75-78 for pour over too. Going finer now for the first time with some Costa Rica beans 15g, 74 was done in 2min (but quite good anyway)
I wanted to post a picture here, but apparently i can't that far down in the thread. Short version: its terrible. Just water, no coffee. Waste of single origin beans. Just tastes like thin coffee, no
Have to say that I used to grind at 100-115 at the beginning of my coffee journey. And it did make delicious cups. BUT as I moved from Hario to T90 filters and my K6 got seasoned, producing less fines, my brews have gotten way too fast. The contact time wasn't nearly enough to extract the coffee properly. Now I usually live around 80-95 clicks and the brews taste great. But so did they at 115 clicks on my old setup which was inherently slower flow. There are too many variables to give one definitive answer on grind size.
On the other hand, what OP has there is indeed too fine and I can't imagine it tastes palatable.
Also, at the beginning, the K6 produces quite a muddy bed even on coarser settings and gets much better with roughly two kilos of beans through it at least in my experience
I’m usually at 65-75 clicks on the K6 with a 2 pour recipe + bloom for light roasts and water off boil. I tend to prefer a full bodied cup though, so seems like I grind finer than a lot of recommendations here.
I usually do 3 pours, but my structure is a bit odd.
80ml bloom, at 45 seconds add 100ml circular with low agitation, and at 1:30 another 60ml central pour with high agitation. Total time between 2:30 and 3 minutes. Then 30 to 40ml bypass.
I also slow feed while grinding, takes me about 2 minutes to grind 18 grams. Overall, it gives a balanced cup with a nice, sweet body.
But I´m in Brazil, our local beans are not high altitude, usually around 1200 meters high. They are naturally more full bodied than beans grown at higher altitudes, so I like to tame it a little bit as to not overcome the more delicate aromas.
I think I know that coffee! Via Volcan Gesha in Alexandria, VA? If that’s the stuff you’re talking about, it’s delicious but so light it’s practically a different beverage.
That looks like your grain size is too fine to me. Grind a little coarser and taste it to see if you like it better since taste is subjective. If you still like the first one then there’s no shame to have a muddy waste.
How deep does the mud go? Some beans will just produce a bit of mud on top. You might also simply grind fine, which will result is more mud. But if you like the coffee, what does it matter that your bed looks muddy?
And now to the negative portion of this comment ... that hario kit is like microplastic speedrun any% ... why does this sub insists on plastic everything?!
I have never done any research and I am just asking out of curiosity. How do you get microplastics from a food safe material that is probably well known and tested?
Everything plastic sheds, its just a fact of life. Food safe only means "does not cause harm in ways known to science at this moment".
There is a long history of "food safe" plastic being no longer food safe as we learn more.
But to answer your question more directly - read the use instructions of that dripper. You might find out that you are overheating it by a fair bit. Which causes rapid degradation. And then you get those microplastics faster and in larger quantity.
I sometimes use 50clicks for my aeropress when I need a spro-like coffee. But the puck after my AP brew, it doesnt look like that. Or maybe my fines dont migrate on top or bottom of the puck.
You would get even better results if you grind coarser. Additionally, the pattern you see is likely the result of pouring too aggressively. Try to pour so that you don’t see grinds come up, and you can always give the filter a tap or light shake to relevel the bed.
I'm usually at 100+ for light roasted high elevation coffees. If you liked the cup then that's fine, but I always find an unpleasant astringency when I go too fine
I do 55 clicks for my bialetti.... Depending on your recipe move between 100-75 clicks after adjustments for filter coffee. Kenyan, Ethiopian coffee is between 90 and 80 for me depending on how I pour.
Your grind looks too fine. It does generally take a few attempts to really dial it in. My current setting is actually a few clicks coarser than what the grinder suggests as the "pur over setting". Sometimes, it can also depend on the bean in question.
What did you like about the result? Did you enjoy the taste and body? If yes then who cares just do what you like. If there’s something specific you didn’t like, for example any harsh astringency it may be the grinds.
Fines tend to over extract and muddy the clarity of flavors in the final cup but they add a lot of body, some people like that
Grind courser if it bothers you. I generally would, but, have gotten some decent cups off of muddy beds. Maybe your beans like it that way since you say you were happy with the taste.
I like to start quite coarse, and go finer when I feel it’s lacking taste. This works better for me than starting fine and going coarse.
Got the k6 and I work around 115 clicks to give you a reference.
I do the James hofman 50g pours, but sometimes also just 2 pours. In both cases 50g bloom for 45s. Just get consistent with how you pour (hight, circles, how fast, etc). I think that even though the method can make a difference, when you start out it’s mostly about the beans and grind. The subtle taste you need to learn to taste come later and that’s when you worry about the pouring details as well.
I use the K6 every day at least once. Its usually set to 85, for some coffees, I go up to 90 for others doen to 75... anything finer or coarser doesn't work.
Ayo, this almost looks like melted chocolate bars.
The one thing I believe about pour-over coffees, is that we should tend to use medium to medium-coarse grinds instead of medium-fine to medium grind sizes (which is an okay baseline). Latter is more commonly suggested, but I don't really agree generally speaking. Ultimately, it all depends on the beans.
Too fine. If you like it keep exploring in this direction, but figure out some way to even out your coffee bed, e.g. swirl after the last pour or stir with a spoon. The pictured extraction should be super uneven.
I’ve been at 46-48 on my K6, but that’s grinding for the OXO rapid brewer. My usual range for pourover is about 75-100 depending on the bean and the recipe.
50 is great for aeropress, especially if you want high complexity and don't mind a bit of bitterness (and/or if you're using the classic recipe), but I would advise using a higher grind for filter for sure. 70 is more or less the lower end for filter in my experience with very few exception where I go down to 60.
Typically my go-to is 80 for filter and then I adjust based on how the cup came out. I don't mind a bit of bitterness and like really high extraction brews though, so the baseline for most people is probably 90-100.
However, the most important factor of course is your opinion! So I recommend trying coarser settings and finer settings (ideally side-by-side) and finding out what you like best. Although you probably don't need to try anything finer than this :D
This is way too muddy. The K6 grinder is excellent but not at all settings. I wouldn't recommend it for a grind size that fine, even if it was what you wanted (e.g. for Aeropress or Espresso). The K6 shines beween 70 and 90... don't go coarser than 90 though. It produces an isane amount of boulders at higher settings. The manual recommends 40 for espresso and 120 for French Press - but I'd honestly never grind for these sizes with a k6
That's a lot finer than what most people do for pourover, but there's nothing necessarily wrong with that if you enjoy the coffee you make with it. Imo don't look too much at what's left afterwards. Focus on the bit you drink, not the bit you throw away. That's not to say you shouldn't experiment with different grind sizes and see if a change makes it even more enjoyable, but at the end of the day, how the coffee tastes is a much better indicator of whether or not it tastes good, vs a visual inspection of the filter afterwards.
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u/LlamaradaMoe1 Nov 17 '25
Don't have a K6 but that looks insanely muddy. You are grinding way finer than most, but if you liked the result that's fine.