Finally dialed in my grinder after a whole MONTH of terrible coffee

Got a new hand grinder, a 1Zpresso J-Max. Every morning for four weeks, my pour-overs tasted either super sour or crazy bitter. I was using 18 grams of light roast, water at 205F, a 1:16 ratio... everything 'by the book'. The problem was the grind setting. I started at 2 full rotations, then tried every single click from 1.5 to 3.0. It took 32 separate brews to find the sweet spot at 2.3 rotations. My partner was about to stage an intervention. Anyone else have a grinder that was this finicky to get right? What was your magic number?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_west1mo ago

Honestly, 32 brews to dial in a hand grinder feels like a lot. Tbh my cheap electric grinder took maybe five tries to get from battery acid to decent. Ngl I wonder if some of this is just overthinking a morning drink.

rosew371mo agoMost Upvoted

Kai_west is onto something here. It reminds me of how everything has to be a whole project now. Can't just make coffee, gotta perfect the craft. Where's the line between a good cup and turning your kitchen into a lab? Sometimes the best upgrade is just enjoying the drink without a notebook.

taylor.mary17h ago

Gotta say, I used to roll my eyes at people who talked about overthinking coffee, but honestly this kind of changed my mind. I mean, I spent a whole weekend trying to get my pour over just right and by Sunday I was like, what am I even doing with my life. Maybe I need to just drink the dang coffee and move on.