A lot of people already know this, I’m sure, but it’s a bit counterintuitive, and here’s hoping it helps any beginners scrolling through.
This is particularly the case for pour over and drip coffee. I long assumed that an astringent flavor/feeling, sorta mouth-drying and unpleasantly mouth-watering at the same time, with a biting aftertaste, was a result of over-extraction, since it can feel sorta similar to bitterness. With that, it seemed to make sense to grind coarser, which obviously didn’t help.
In the end, going significantly finer brought a much fuller and sweeter extraction, minimizing the astringency without increasing bitterness at all.
A caveat, of course, astringency can indeed come from over-extraction, so this isn’t a guarantee. If you’re already coarse, try finer. But if you’re grinding super fine, the opposite might go for you/those beans.
TL;DR: if you are having issues with astringency, it might be intuitive to go for a lighter extraction with a coarser grind, but try going finer for richer flavor instead.
Well all I can say is thank you, kind internet stranger. I tried grinding finer, and got a really lovely sweet and balanced cup. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything, but it was like a completely different bean.
When I first got the bag, I tried grinding in the middle of the “pour over” range on the niche (35), which gave the results I describes initially. Ended up pulling back and settling on 40. It was pleasant there, but nothing special. This morning I tried 30, which felt extreme, but it was super nice!
I learned something new today thanks to your post!
Ah that’s so great to hear! It was an epiphany for me when I got a better cup this way, so I’m just so glad I got to share it with at least one person!
Thank you for the update, and happy pouring!