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We’ve all been there.
Laying in our beds at night, just about to fall asleep, when the thought suddenly appears:
‘‘-How would my coffee taste if I sift my grounds and remove the boulders above 800 microns and get rid of the fines below 300 microns?’’ 🧐
Once we have this thought, it’s difficult ever to fall asleep again…
‘‘If you want your meal evenly cooked, you need evenly sized ingredients, same goes for coffee’’
What is sifting? Sifting is the mechanism by which we take the ground coffee and run it through different sieves to separate the ground coffee into different grind sizes. This means that after the coffee is sieved, you’ll find one part of the ground coffee is in the ultra-fine grind size, a portion of the grounds being medium grind size, and at last some parts of the coffee will be huge particles called boulders.
Coffee particles are not described in meters or millimetres, due to their small size they need a smaller unit called microns:
One micron = 1/1000 mm(one thousandth of a millimeter)
Sifting coffee can be done in many different ways. You can start by removing particles below or above a certain screen size. It can also be done in a more scientific approach where you try to find out exactly how the particle distribution of your ground coffee looks - this means many layers of sieves that divide the grounds into very specific sizes.
Why would you sift the coffee? Sifting coffee is a very time-consuming process, but it can give insights into how the particle distribution of your ground coffee actually affects the flavour in your cup:
The main reason most home baristas want to try sifting is because of the impression that ‘’cleaning up’’ your ground coffee will give you a better result in your brew. Theoretically, an even grind size is better, right?
Well, it’s not that simple, and grind size distribution deserves its own article. But the most common realization when sifting your coffee grounds is that your coffee actually tastes… worse?
Should you sift your coffee?
Here at The Brew Journal HQ, we’ve rigorously played around with sifting for most home baristas would recommend skipping the sieve. The reason for that is partly because of the amount of time and preparation it can take to assemble the sieve, sift the coffee and then clean the sieve. The entire process can take around 15 minutes, and the result it is usually worse than before sifting the coffee.
Removing the fines removes complexity from the coffee, makes your cup extremely flat, and removes the aftertaste completely. It’s a very strange and almost ‘’synthetic’’ sensation when drinking a sifted coffee.
However, there are ways to make a sifted coffee taste good, which we will explore in a deep dive for the near future! An example is for competition where some competitors have sifted their coffee and re-added the fines to add complexity in their brew.
Who should sift?
If you’re a numbers fanatic and love to understand the grind quality of different grinders, or maybe want to learn more about how different microns can affect your cup, sifting is for you!
But again, sifting won’t necessarily improve the flavour of your coffee but can instead be a useful tool to understand the ‘’back end’’ of coffee brewing and grinding mechanics... Not what the usual home barista is looking for but I know there are some of you ultra geeks out there who would have great fun with a sieve!
Have you ever sifted your coffee or are you maybe interested in trying?
-H.S.
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