The grinding of coffee

[mtbc]

I am not an aficionado but I know enough about coffee to wish to buy the appropriate grind for my intended usage: for example, when using a French press, I would avoid anything intended for making espressos. I am therefore surprised to be finding that coffee, even as sold from fancy-looking coffee-vending websites, appears not to be sold with useful reference to or choice of grind. Amazon's slightly better in that the customer questions at least have responses from people who already bought it and try to guess the grind. In general, though, the choice seems to be simply between ground or not, which seems very odd to me, especially as decent coffee is not trivially cheap. I had naively expected to be able to select roast, grind, etc., or at least for packets to mention at least some hint toward fineness or coarseness. In reality, vendors seem to aim for a utility grind which they think mostly works for most things, though I am surprised that this approach is deemed tolerable by those who are not just buying the most popular brands off grocery store shelves. Perhaps I am wrong to think that grind matters.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

That does seem odd. I know that the local coffee shops here often sell local brands that are specific as to roast and grind.

Since I don't drink coffee, I rarely pay any attention to any of it.

[wildeabandon]

Perhaps there's an assumption that people who care enough about the grind will just buy whole beans?

[emperor]

UK coffee suppliers (maybe I've only looked at hipster ones) seem to quite often offer at least a couple of grind options (though I buy beans).