Pre-ground coffee or beans?

[cantdrv55]

Does it really make a difference when you grind the beans? Are you a grind-just-before brewing or buy pre-ground?

[Crowbob]

I am grinding IMMEDIATELY before pouring on the boiling water. I use a French press.The oils from the beans float to the top and must be pressed into the brew for five minutes before pouring.

I grind courser rather than finer to have some chunks with no powder. Too fine a grind dilutes the bean flavors.

One large cup (not a huge mug) in the AM and I’m good. Any more than that my hands shake and I want to kick the neighbor’s dog.

[Paul T]

Grind just before brewing, but the machine does it for me….

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Jura E8, beans in, press 2 buttons (one coffee and one double espresso), coffee comes out.

Consensus is grind and brew.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I used to do the entire fresh grind, French press routine but I got tired of it. Went back to ground coffee and it’s good enough for me. But I grew up doing construction and drinking gas station coffee, so maybe I’m just an uncultured knuckle dragger?

[herr_oberst]

I grind it in a burr grinder each day. Don't know why; my coffee ain't really great no matter what beans I get or how fine or coarse I grind 'em. No patience to do the testing necessary, is my guess.

Anecdote: I read an article about Tom Petty once; he famously drank coffee all day. The reporter asked him about his preference, and he said he liked Maxwell House the best.

Ahh, yes. The life of a rock star.

[oldE]

Yep, grind in the old cast iron burr grinder. It produces a course grind. Then into the stainless insulated carafe French press. That does enough for the Missus and me.
High test in the morning, half and half at noon and decaf at supper time. Nothing added. It is a sin to add extraneous stuff to good coffee.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by Paul T

Grind just before brewing, but the machine does it for me….

This. Mine is a De'Longhi Automatic

I don't drink coffee out anymore. If it's not fresh ground from my machine, it's not worth drinking......

[zakthor]

If the beans are rancid it doesn't matter when you grind. Unless they're from a roaster its likely all the beans are oxidized.

Here's a clue: lots of beans in the grocery with expiration dates 6 months out. One time at a gourmet store I found a bag of beans that expired 2 years in the future. Combined with a lack of roast date its a giant hint that the beans are already bad (and that the roaster has no respect for their customers.)

You don't care when the beans expire, you care when they were roasted.

Easy test if you can't tell what fresh beans taste like: find a can of Illy beans. Those cans hold positive pressure nitrogen and the beans taste fresh to me more than 6 months after roast.

Illy sells ground and also whole beans. The ground coffee tastes fine when you open the pack but it'll start tasting bad in less than a day. The whole beans will last 4-5 days before they start smelling off.

I don't think Illy is the best coffee there is but they do have their process down and i think their whole beans are great metric for what good coffee is supposed to taste like.

Also: there's a wide range of preferences. My dad can't taste anything but the burnt so he likes the oily black french roast. To me its ruined coffee and it just tastes like charcoal.

[Arizona_928]

I do the Kirkland pre-ground can from Costco. It’s gourmet compared to instant.

[jyl]

You really don’t want to go down this route, because you’ll start roasting at home and getting all weird about ordering obscure green beans from expensive importers. Just say no and drink the damn Folgers.

I roast at home and grind into an espresso basket.

[wdfifteen]

I’m not a coffee snob. I have a Jura super automatic (like Shaun’s) because it makes good coffee and I can stagger into the kitchen, press 2 buttons, and have a decent cup of coffee delivered to me.

[vash]

Instant coffee. Dissolvable.

[berettafan]

I grind when I brew but have never tried pre-ground. I do espresso though so maybe that is different? Wife has tried some of our espresso purposed beans for her k cup thing and sees no difference (she puts a LOT of milk and flavored creamer in there though) so she uses pre-ground stuff.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by berettafan

I grind when I brew but have never tried pre-ground. I do espresso though so maybe that is different? Wife has tried some of our espresso purposed beans for her k cup thing and sees no difference (she puts a LOT of milk and flavored creamer in there though) so she uses pre-ground stuff.

Can’t use preground for espresso! or you can but it’s not good.

[Gogar]

It's a big deal IMO

[Pazuzu]

I GRIND...the scoop into the Folger's coffee can, and then I put it into a Mr Coffee coffee pot. THEN, I let it sit overnight because I set it up ant night so it's ready for me in the morning. Actually, it's ready for my wife, who gets up an hour earlier than me, so by the time I walk over and pour the first cup, it's been steaming away in that carafe for almost 1.5 hours.

I can hear some of you screaming into the abyss because of all of the above

[Steve Carlton]

Never pre-owned. It's not that expensive to go fresh.

[LWJ]

I grind. And make espresso. But, I have standardized on Costco beans - because they are consistent. Not great. Not awful. The chi chi beans take 3-4 shots just to figure out what works. And then the next batch is another 3-4. I don't have patience for that.

[KFC911]

Buying green beans and roasting yer own, and then grinding each morning and a French Press could become habit forming .... some might call it a vice

Now it's Peets MD (ground) if I can't get by my usual source now.... the local BBQ joint roasts beans too... freshly roasted (every 3 weeks) dark Sumatra ... I have 'em grind it "fine" and it goes into a drip maker....

AHHHHH