My cold brew went from bitter to smooth after one simple change

I used to grind my beans fine like for drip coffee and let them sit 12 hours. The result was always this harsh, almost sour taste that I needed cream to fix. A buddy who roasts his own beans told me to try a coarse grind and bump the steep time to 20 hours. The difference was night and day, smoother than any store bought cold brew I've had. Anybody else find their cold brew got way better just from changing the grind size?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jennifer9d ago

Wait, are you really saying finer grind gave you sour results? Sounds like your brew temp or water ratio was off, not the grind itself. Coarser grinds usually extract less, so bumping the time to 20 hours just overcompensates for the lack of surface area. You probably just got lucky with the new ratio or water temp without realizing it.

daniel_martin8d ago

Honestly, wait, you think I got lucky with the temp and ratio? That's wild. @the_jennifer, I literally ground my beans down to almost powder and pulled a shot that tasted like straight battery acid - sour and biting. I changed nothing else but the grind setting. If a finer grind gives me sour, that's the grind doing it, not some happy accident with water temp. I've been dialing in the same beans with the same ratio for weeks, so I know what I'm seeing here.