Why I Spritz My Coffee Beans
Published February 26, 2021
In a recent James Hoffmann video, James recommended giving your dosed, unground beans a spritz of water before grinding1.
If you’re not into coffee, James is probably the closest thing the coffee industry & community has to an influencer. He has, objectively, the most popular coffee-themed YouTube channel. Albeit, that might not be the best metric.
My spray bottle cutely labeled “dihydrogen monoxide”
The idea behind spraying your beans (you don’t say that everyday) is to aid in static reduction. This is particularly important when grinding & brewing for espresso because as the grind trends towards finer the impact of static increases. Also, with espresso, if there are any coffee grounds being retained (referred to as retention) by the grinder then your recipe parameters lose their repeatability.
I seldom brew espresso—pour-over and Aeropress are my go-tos. However, I’ve been using this spray bottle method since I initially viewed that video and I must say “wow!” It’s not often that you get upgrades that are nearly $0 USD (read: free ninety nine) with such an impressive impact. Talk about ROI.
James had previously recommended a quick swirl of the end of a spoon dipped in water to achieve a similar outcome. The spritz method is an improvement. Ideally, grinder manufacturers will eventually make this unnecessary. Until then, I’ll keep on spritzin’.
It’s worth noting that this may void warranties and/or cause premature wear↩︎
Last modified February 25, 2021 #coffee