Can You Regrind Coffee? The Best Way Revealed

The other day I just picked a packet of ground coffee from the supermarket, it was a brand I hadn’t tried before and was excited to brew coffee.

I found out online that it was a good make. When I went home I just realised it was coarse ground, not ideal for my coffee maker. Naturally, the question that popped into my head was ‘can you regrind coffee’. If not, can I go back in time and fix my mistake by picking the finer grind?

Let’s go over the topic and discover how to regrind coffee (no time machines are involved in this post). 

Can you really regrind coffee? 

Fortunately, you can regrind coffee to finer grounds and still enjoy a great cup of coffee; it’s vital to use a grinder that doesn’t grind them too much, degrading the quality of the coffee. Start from a slightly finer grind and work your way down to the ideal one. 

6 great reasons you should regrind coffee

These are 3 good reasons to regrind coffee: 

1. Your coffee maker only brews good coffee with fine grinds, so it leaves you with no option but regrind your coffee.
2. You want to avoid acidic coffee; the coarser the grinds the more acidic they are. If you’re suffering from acid reflux or for whatever reason you want to avoid coffee high in acidity, it’s a good idea to get on with regrinding. Acidity in coffee is such that you need to know how to use it for your grass
3. Regrinding or grinding in stages is a method some of the top baristas recommend as it makes your coffee grinds more even and your brew has richer flavour and aroma.
4. You’re just curious to see how to go about it and really juxtapose ready-made fine grinds with yours. 
5. You’ll get more coffee from your beans, especially if the coffee you bought is expensive. By regrinding, you extract some extra flavour from your beans. 
6. You might have received a coarse coffee sample as a promotional material from a coffee brand and you just want to turn it into finer grinds.

9 Tips and Tricks on how to regrind coffee

Let’s go over some tips and tricks on how to regrind coffee, allowing you to drink great-quality coffee: 

What you’ll need: 

• Ground coffee (obviously)
• sieve/strainer
• Grinder (manual or electrical)

1. Interestingly, coarser grinds remain fresher than finer, meaning that they keep the aroma and taste better. Simply grind the amount of coffee you need for a single brew each time.
2. Because different grinders have different pre-set size options it’s wise to adjust the size you desire and grind a small sample of your coffee to find out the best size to avoid ending up with too fine coffee grinds.
3. Start with a short time turn off your electric grinder and have a look at it. It’s wise to keep track of how long the grinding took you, so you know for the next time.
4. Start with a small amount of coffee which again will help you monitor the process better.
5. One way that helps with the grinding process is to shake the grinder, but it’s vital not to overdo it and always go about it in a safe way. 
6. How can you check that all of the grinds are finer? This is where the strainer comes into play; sprinkle the grinds through the stainer and put the ones that are still on it back into the grinder.
7. How about the super-fine grinds? We don’t want them, as if you don’t use a paper filter in your coffee machine, the odds are they will end up in your cup. An effective method to filter them out is to spread all the grind on a piece of kitchen roll and then put the grind back into the grinder, almost all of the super-fine grounds will stay on the kitchen roll. 
8. Let’s face it, fine coffee gets dry and stale quickly and loses its taste and aroma. If you really want to brew a great cup of coffee, it’s wise to have the tools laid out before the grinding as well as get on with the brewing right after you’re done with the grinding. 
9. What to do with the grinds left? It’s wise to store them in a container in a cupboard, keeping them away from sunlight and humidity.

Which is the best grinder for regrinding coffee? 

You have two options the electric or manual grinder. The results you’ll get from each are slightly different. Let’s go through how to use it for getting fine coffee grinds. 

Manual grinder

Although it might take a bit longer and you might spend energy grinding, the good thing with the manual grinder is that you have more control over the process. Start small and just put a teaspoon of coffee or two into the grinder and get on with the grinding and once you’re done just repeat the process. It’s wise not to grind too fast, otherwise, you’ll end up with uneven coffee grinds. You can get a decent coffee grinder for only $20 here.

Electric grinder

It needs less effort to regrind coffee with an electric grinder, as you’ll just press a button. As with the manual grinder, it’s vital to grind your coffee in different small amounts than just throwing all of it and grinding it once. As you might have guessed, electric grinders are pricey compared to manual, but they get the job done quicker. If you haven’t one at home, have a look at this electric coffee grinder here.

Can all kinds of coffee grinders regrind coffee? 

The answer is not all them can regrind coffee. Coffee grinders fall under two categories: the burr and blade grinders, the first use burrs (abrasive revolving surfaces) to grind coffee beans whilst a single blade is fit in blade grinders to do the job. Although blade grinders are typically cheaper to buy they don’t produce as even grinds as burr ones do, and as a result, burr are the better grinders for regrinding coffee.

How can you use fine grinds?

What if you ended up with too much of fine grinds? The bad news is that you can’t use them in your coffee maker cause your brew will muddy. 

But the good news is that there are a couple of handy ways you can use them: 

• Brew with fine grinds using your coffee maker: You’ll need to use a cloth or paper filter that filters out grinds. There are two types of paper: the brown one made from wood without any chemicals and the white that contains bleach. Filtering through a cloth (known as a filter sock) is also a great alternative to paper filters. If you bought filters that don’t perfectly fit into your brewer’s basket, you can just hold the filter on the brim of your mug while pouring the hot coffee. It’s also important to filter the water used in brewing.

• Use them in your French press: Let’s kick off with placing the fine grinds in the French press (go for a ratio of 60g to a litre of water). (Learn more about the right americano ratio). Pour the boiling water in and let the coffee bloom for about five minutes without putting the top on. You’ll probably see coffee bits floating on top, and in order to remove them use a spoon. Now, what’s left to do is pretty similar to what you would have done with coarse grinds – you know the drill. Place the top, press the plunger down gently and you’re good to go. If you still see grinds in the French press, why not use a coffee filter?
• The Lebanese-coffee way: put one or two teaspoons of coffee (depending on how strong coffee you want to brew) in a little pot and about 25 ml of water (the size of a single espresso shot cup) and boil it for a few minutes. You’ll soon see a thick layer formed on top (known as crema) that indicates that your coffee is ready. 
• Make cakes instead: another way you can use your fine coffee grinds, especially if they espresso coffee beans is to make delicious cakes with rich flavour and aroma including coffee cakes muffins and of course, cupcakes. Why not pair your cake with a nice cup of coffee? 

Does regrinding make coffee lose its aroma and flavour? 

Unfortunately, your coffee isn’t going to taste as good as a beverage brewed with freshly grinds. Some of its aroma and flavour have already gone. But regrinding coffee is still a good option if you have them, especially if you brew your coffee within seconds or a maximum of a few minutes after the regrinding. 

Let’s wrap it up

If you accidentally bought coarse grinds and don’t have a grinder at home or even really bother regrinding them, just bring your French press out and use your grounds to brew fine coffee in a couple of minutes.