Harvest Café Coffee Company will always offer to grind the beans you purchase for free. Once ground, coffee should be consumed as soon as possible. Some home espresso machines actually grind the beans for you a minute before the espresso is made. Purchasing a good home stand-alone grinder is a great idea. Roasted coffee loses much of its luster after being exposed to the air. Grinding a bean only means there is more surface area exposed, so the beans will lose their flavor much more quickly. This is why it is recommended to grind the amount of beans you need just before you brew

There are essentially two categories of coffee grinders; burr grinders, and blade grinders.

Blade Grinders use a spinning metal blade to grind coffee, as you probably guessed by the name "blade grinders.” These tend to be cylindrical plastic devices. These grinders have two major drawbacks. First of all, the coffee is not ground evenly, so you can't get a perfect grind out of them. Secondly, the blade and motor tend to heat the coffee, which is detrimental to the flavor. For those reasons, this type of grinder isn't recommended for espresso.

Burr Grinders use a spinning metal plate to shred the coffee evenly. These machines are automatic -- you tell it how much coffee you want and how fine you want the grind. This is the recommended grinder.

Grind Categories

There are a variety of grinds available, but they all fall into three major categories:

Drip Grind: This grind can be anywhere from very coarse to somewhat fine. Drip coffee will be quite a bit stronger with a finer grind, but it should be less fine than espresso. If the grind is too fine, you'll end up with some pretty "sandy" coffee.

Espresso Grind: This is a very fine grind, but it shouldn't be so fine that it goes through your filter! It should look like fine sand. The increased surface area unlocks much of the flavor of good coffee.

Turkish Grind: This is an extremely fine grind. In fact, it's so fine that it's powder. Turkish coffee is made by mixing powdered coffee with boiling water. This process may look like the makings of instant coffee