066
Coffee
decoder
correct Grinding After the bean’s cellular structure
so that the particles are touching but
is broken, oxidation and therefore
do not overlap, covers 3 square feet.
staling are accelerated exponentially.
This is the same space covered by a
While whole-bean coffee is good for
daily newspaper, laid open for perusal.
two weeks, the ground stuff is stale
Such a finely ground dose of coffee
within hours.
will stale irretrievably within an hour.
The most extreme case, as usual, is typified by espresso: a single 7-gram dose of coffee, ground to the necessary exquisite fineness and spread
Note: The more brief the contact time between grounds and water, the finer the grind should be. And vice versa: The longer the contact time, the coarser the grind.