Fresh Ground Coffee: Why DIY Grinding is the Better Option
First things first - there’s absolutely nothing wrong with ordering fresh ground coffee from a reliable coffee roaster. This will always be the best ground coffee available from any retailer, having been roasted and ground to order - right before shipping.
Still, many seasoned coffee connoisseurs will (quite rightly) argue that the best ground coffee outright is the coffee you grind yourself. By this, we mean ordering up a batch of fresh coffee beans (roasted to order) and subsequently grinding them yourself, prior to use.
While this does mean a little added effort on the part of the buyer, there are several undeniable advantages to DIY grinding. Particularly when shopping with an established gourmet coffee specialist, picking up fresh coffee beans and making your own fresh ground coffee at home can be quite the enjoyable experience.
Here’s why:
1) Incomparable Fragrance and Flavor
Where possible, the best way to enjoy coffee is to grind the beans immediately before using them. Not an hour, a day or a week before brewing your coffee - literally seconds before adding the water. In doing so, you ensure that all the aromatic oils and beneficial compounds within the beans are preserved until the last moment. The result - fragrant and flavorful coffee the likes of which can only be produced with seriously fresh coffee grounds.
2) An opportunity to get creative
One of the benefits of buying whole bean coffee is the opportunity to pick up single origin coffees and all manner of exclusive varieties. It also means being able to get creative with your own exclusive DIY blends. Most bags of conventional ground coffee comprise any number of varieties - why not experiment with your own? This can be a great way of combining the qualities of your favorite coffees into one ultimate blend, which you can then proudly call your own unique creation!
3) Different brewing methods, different coarseness
Depending on how you intend to brew your coffee, you will need to use grounds with very different coarseness levels. Espresso calls for finer grounds, French press necessitates a coarser grinding and so on. The issue being that when you buy a bag of ground coffee, you get one consistent coarseness level alone. You’ll still be able to brew an excellent cup of coffee using multiple methods, but achieving perfect results means starting out with the perfect coarseness of grounds. Hence, the benefit of grinding your own.
4) A longer shelf life
Last up, ground coffee has a short shelf life, after which it is considered well and truly past its prime. Irrespective of how you store it, there’s little you can do to preserve the freshness of ground coffee long-term. While roasted coffee beans also have a finite shelf life, it’s much longer than that of ground coffee. Stored in the right way, fresh roasted coffee beans can produce quality results for up to 3 months. Another reason why DIY grinding is the preferred option for many, especially when looking to buy in bulk to save money.
Hayman brings you an incredible menu of fresh roasted coffee, including the world-famous Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, best Kona coffee Hawaii, Panama Geisha coffee beans (i.e. Gesha coffee). All coffees are available as whole bean coffee, best ground coffee, coffee pods compatible with Nespresso®*, coffee pods compatible with Keurig K Cup coffee makers (incl. Keurig 2.0 models)**, and as green coffee beans (i.e. for home roasting with your coffee roaster) – click here to order now, we offer free worldwide shipping!
* Nespresso® is a registered trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., unrelated to Hayman ®. Our espresso pods are not created or sold by Nespresso®.
** Keurig and K-Cup are registered trademarks of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. unrelated to Hayman®. Our pods are not created or sold by Keurig®.
