Grinding finer is not a fix for every bad cup

I keep seeing people on here tell newbies to grind finer the moment something tastes off. Bitter and harsh? Grind finer. Sour and weak? Grind finer. After 4 years of home roasting and brewing, I think that advice is lazy and often wrong. Last Tuesday I had a Kenyan lot that tasted like ash no matter what. Went coarser, dropped the water temp to 198F, and it turned into a sweet, juicy cup. Extraction is a balance, not a one-way knob. Why is finer the default answer when channeling and uneven beds are just as common?

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jenniferb531mo ago

Read somewhere that uneven beds cause more bad shots than coarse grinds ever do.

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