AeroPress Grind Size: Settings for Short and Long Steeps

The right AeroPress grind size is medium-fine, a little coarser than espresso, for the short one- to two-minute steeps most recipes use. If your recipe steeps longer, grind coarser; the longer the coffee sits in the water, the coarser it can be.

That one rule explains why AeroPress advice seems to disagree. People aren't arguing about the grind. They're using different steep times. Below: how steep time sets the grind, what the right grind looks like, starting settings on eight popular grinders, and what to change when the cup tastes wrong.

For the full brewing method (dose, water, inverted vs. standard), see the AeroPress brewing guide. This post is only about the grind.

Grind size depends on steep time

The AeroPress is an immersion brewer: the coffee sits in the water and extracts the whole time, then you press it through a paper filter. Two things control how much you pull out of the grounds. One is how small the particles are, and the other is how long they steep. Change one and you have to change the other.

AeroPress's own instructions show this. Its getting-started page lists medium-fine for coffee you grind at home and tells you to wait 30 seconds before pressing. For store-bought coffee ground to medium, it says to wait 60 seconds. The coarser coffee gets the longer steep.

Other sources say it outright:

• Counter Culture Coffee: "The finer your grind, the shorter the brew time. The coarser your grind, the longer the brew time." They note that AeroPress brew times usually run 2–3 minutes. For the longer immersion versions, "we'll need to go coarser," and medium-fine to medium-coarse is standard.
• Constance Romero of AeroPress, quoted by Perfect Daily Grind, says that with finer grinds the coffee should steep "for at least one minute, and up to three minutes," and that "the coarser your grind size is, the longer your total brew time should be."
• Stumptown grinds fine and finishes in "just under two minutes": a 17 g dose, 220 g of water, a stir at 1:15, then a gentle press.

The practical version:

Your grinder's chart is a starting point for the middle row. Go a few steps finer for very short recipes and a few steps coarser for long ones.

What the right grind looks like

Stumptown describes its AeroPress grind as "about the texture of table salt." Counter Culture says the original AeroPress recipe calls for a grind "almost as fine as you would use with espresso," and Romero calls it "slightly more coarse than what you would use for espresso." Taken together:

• Medium-fine (short steep): like table salt. Finer than drip, coarser than espresso. Pinch it and it feels gritty, not powdery.
• Medium (two minutes and up): closer to what you'd use for drip. Still sandy, with grains you can easily see.
• Too fine: soft and powdery, clumps when pinched, and fights the plunger.
• Too coarse: like coarse sand or kosher salt. Water runs straight through, and the cup tastes thin.

One clue from AeroPress: in the standard (upright) position, a little liquid dripping through before you press is normal. Their FAQ puts it at about 2–3%. If a lot runs through early, it says you need a finer grind.

If you want a number rather than a texture, the grind size chart puts every method on one scale. BrewMark gives particle sizes only for the bands the published sources agree on, which are espresso (250–400 µm) and drip (750–900 µm). AeroPress falls between them, so it's described here in words. See how we handle microns.

Starting settings on popular grinders

These are the AeroPress (short steep) settings from each grinder's BrewMark settings page. They're meant for the one- to two-minute recipes. For a longer steep, start a few steps coarser.

Starting points from each maker's own chart, collected on BrewMark's settings pages. Every grinder drifts; adjust by taste.

The Encore row lines up with AeroPress's own advice: its getting-started page gives Baratza Encore settings of 11–13 for the medium-fine grind.

Don't see your grinder? The master grind size chart covers every grinder BrewMark has a chart for. If you're still choosing one, the grinder finder set to AeroPress narrows the list to grinders that handle this range well.

If your numbers seem off by a few clicks from what the chart predicts, calibrate your grinder before you chase taste.

Troubleshooting: hard plunge, sour, bitter

Change one thing at a time, and make each change small: one or two steps on a stepped dial, or a small turn on a stepless one. Taste the next cup before you change anything else.

The plunger is hard to push

Finer grounds pack tighter and take more force to press. Romero says a coarser grind "will reduce the force needed to press the plunger," and that "a more gentle press will create a more balanced cup." AeroPress's own instructions say to apply "gentle constant pressure (do not push too hard)." Stumptown adds that very fine espresso grinds "may slow the press and over-extract."

If you have to lean your weight on it, grind coarser and press slower. Don't force it.

It tastes sour or thin

Sour usually means under-extraction: the water didn't pull enough out of the coffee. Stumptown's advice is simple: "If the coffee tastes sour or weak, try grinding slightly finer." You can also steep longer, which is the other half of the same trade-off. If you're already at a fine setting and the plunge is getting hard, add steep time instead of grinding finer still.

More on this in how to fix sour coffee.

It tastes bitter or harsh

Bitter usually means over-extraction. Stumptown says bitter AeroPress coffee "is usually caused by grinding too fine, using water that is too hot, or brewing too long," and suggests a slightly coarser grind, a shorter brew, or slightly cooler water. Romero also warns that grinding too fine can cause overextraction, "resulting in a bitter-tasting coffee."

Go coarser first. If you've just moved to a longer-steep recipe without changing the grind, that's probably the cause. See how to fix bitter coffee for the rest.

It's muddy or silty

A grind far too fine for your steep makes more fines, the dust-sized particles that make a cup heavy and murky. Go a few steps coarser. Stumptown also says to stop pressing when you hear a hissing sound, rather than squeezing the last of the wet grounds.

Long-steep recipes need a coarser start

Many popular AeroPress recipes steep much longer than AeroPress's own 30 seconds. James Hoffmann's Ultimate AeroPress, for example, uses a low dose and a long, still steep before a slow press. If you follow a recipe like that with a short-steep setting, expect a bitter cup and a hard press. Start at the coarse end of your grinder's AeroPress range, or a step past it, and adjust from there.

The reverse is true too. If you use a long-steep setting for a quick recipe, the cup will taste weak and sour.

Next steps

• Find your grinder's full chart in the grinder settings hub, or compare methods on the master grind size chart.
• Brew James Hoffmann's Ultimate AeroPress, or work through the AeroPress brewing guide from scratch.
• Moving a setting from another grinder? Use the grind converter, or read how to convert grind settings between grinders.
• New grinder? Follow how to dial in a new grinder.
• Shopping for one? Start with the grinder finder for AeroPress.