As part of trying to move into the world of freshly ground coffee I’ve been doing some haphazard reading into tips in the use and care of coffee grinders. One idea that pops up is the idea of seasoning a new grinder by running cheap coffee through it before using it for real. Some sources claim it isn’t needed with others recommending it. Of those that recommend it they don’t all agree on why it should be done, how much coffee should be sacrificed, and just how necessary it is (best practice vs. essential).
I suspect that the lack of consensus may be a case of people chasing every improvement possible on one hand and folks not willing to invest quite so much effort to that aim on the other. Any insights and information would be appreciated.
Just start making coffee. You might find it improves over time. Whether it’s seasoning, you getting more consistent, or getting better at dialling in those beans, you may as well be drinking coffee during the process. I wouldn’t just sit there and grind beans to throw away. It’s too much of a waste.
I think that is what I’m going to be doing. The jump from preground to freshly ground will probably be noticeable enough and trying to push the envelop, even if seasoning does actually assist in this, seems a bit of a waste (in both coffee and effort) at this point. I tend to be guilty of this in a lot of new hobbies, I hoover up a bunch of info and I’m wondering how to do wheelies on a bike 5 seconds after removing the training wheels.
@Dravin We keep both. Depends on time frame on which one we make
Id be willing to bet my last bag of coffee it doesnt actually do anything.
Dialing in is going to purge some coffee anyway, just to get to the roughly right texture. I wouldn’t feel any great need to purge much more through unless the manufacturer recommended it.
If you’re worried about machining oils left on the burrs or something, you can always just open the machine up and take a look.
Dialing in is going to purge some coffee anyway, just to get to the roughly right texture. I wouldn’t feel any great need to purge much more through unless the manufacturer recommended it.
No, no mention of seasoning in the manual. The point about dialing in is a good one and one I never even considered.
If you’re worried about machining oils left on the burrs or something, you can always just open the machine up and take a look.
Another good point. They look clean and don’t have any sort of machine oil odor.
My professional opinion is that It depends on the specific burrs, but in general home home grinders don’t need seasoned. Large milled flat burrs usually need a bit of a seasoning before providing consistent results.
Makes sense to grind a bit to get any dust or manufacturing oils out but that should not take more than 50 or 100 grams
What even is seasoning a grinder? My assumption is just that you’re filling up micro pores in the metal with fines.
You could probably just grind about 10g of coffee beans almost as fine as possible. It shouldn’t take much. If you don’t want to waste it, use the results in a baking dish like chocolate chip cookies or brownies. It can add some richness to counteract the sugar.
A home grinder isn’t going to be that fussy.
I also think that just beginning to use it normally is fine too. The only reason not to would be the idea that an unseasoned grinder somehow ruins the resulting first coffee, which is clearly not true. And seasoning with shit coffee is just gonna make your coffee taste a little bit shittier.
