Ground Coffee and Ground coffee beans

Ground coffee is coffee beans that have been passed through a grinder or have been pulverized or crushed. When hot water or high pressured steam is passed through ground coffee it extracts compounds within the coffee resulting in a brewed cup of coffee.

There are a number of different methods of producing ground coffee. Some methods include grinding coffee beans through a blade grinder, pulverising coffee beans in a pulveriser or hammer mill, and milling coffee beans through a burr mill grinder or mill stone grinder.

Before coffee can be ground it must first be roasted. Ground coffee takes on a whole new dimension depending on the type of bean, roast, and grind setting.

The finest ground coffee is generally Greek Coffee or Turkish Coffee. These types of coffees are generally ground by a pulveriser, stone mill grinder, mortar and pestle, hand mill, or a specially made blade grinder. There are a number of different ways ground coffee can be brewed and each method can create a different flavour or type of cup of coffee.

The particle size of ground coffee is generally classified by the term ‘mesh or sieve size’. This mesh size can be as fine or little as 0.020mm (635 mesh US) or as large as 11.20mm (2 mesh US). For reference mesh size charts and resources are available on the internet with a breakdown and list of all particle sizes. The Tyler Equivalent developed by WS Tyler is one screening method used to measure the size of the sieve openings per linear inch.

Ground coffee oxidises a lot quicker than unground coffee (beans) because more of the inner surface area of the bean has been exposed to the atmosphere. This results in a shorter lifespan for the coffee when ground and is generally best consumed sooner rather than later.

An idea would be to have a small grinder on hand to grind only the required volume of coffee when preparing your espresso. This is because coffee beans last a bit longer compared to ground coffee because of the exposure to the atmosphere and oxygenation.

That is why ground coffee should be placed in an air-tight container and stored in a cool dry place immediately after grinding the coffee beans.

Ground coffee also makes good use in the garden as a mulch or compost.

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