Can You Grind Coffee The Night Before?

One of the most challenging things for coffee lovers is figuring out when to grind your coffee.

Ask any coffee enthusiast, and they will attest to this: grinding is one of those rituals that you have to go through before enjoying a cup of Joe.

Personally, I love the whole ritual of starting my morning with the smell of freshly ground coffee.

But some people feel like they don’t have the time for that, which leads to them wanting to grind their coffee the night before so that it’s ready to go come morning.

Can you grind coffee the night before? Yes, you can. But the real question here is – should you grind coffee the night before? No, you should not.

In this article, we shed some light on grinding coffee the night before and go on to give you some valuable tips. 

What you should know about grinding coffee 

You need to know a couple of things before you start grinding coffee.

First, you have an option to grind your coffee to be extra coarse, medium coarse, or to be a fine grind.

But remember this, all the nutrients of the coffee bean are trapped inside.

So when you grind your coffee, you will lose some of those properties that bring out a tasty flavor.

And the longer the time between grinding the coffee and making the coffee, then the more flavor you lose. 

Here is what happens when you grind your coffee beans: Your coffee beans will essentially lose their flavor a lot quicker than when you leave them as whole beans.

All the water-soluble parts of your coffee beans are likely to dissolve faster.

Furthermore, the inner parts of the coffee beans will be exposed to the water directly, making all the nutrients dissolve in the water.

However, if you are thorough with your grind, you can still have a more refined coffee that tastes better.

If it so happens that you have to grind your beans the night before, make sure that you store them in a cool, dry, and dark place.

Do you have to grind your coffee bean the night before?  

Yes and no.

Grinding the night before will depend on whether you value time or how your coffee tastes. 

Keep this in mind, when you grind your coffee beans the night before, it is likely to lose aroma and flavor due to oxidation.

That means the kind of coffee you will end up with won’t be as tasty as you want it to be. 

Solution: If you always want to enjoy a tasty cup of coffee, do this: Grind your beans right before brewing your coffee. This way, your coffee beans won’t lose their maximum flavor. 

Why You Shouldn’t Grind Coffee The Night Before

Here are some of the reasons you shouldn’t grind coffee the night before:

1. Avoid using cheap coffee grinders.

Using a cheap grinder is likely to grind the coffee beans unevenly or ruin some coffee beans.

However, that is not to say all expensive grinders can grind well, and cheap grinders are ineffective.

Few affordable grinders can still do a great job. 

The key here is being able to control the grind density.

Grind density refers to that setting on your coffee grinder that lets you go from coarse to fine ground coffee.

The higher quality the coffee grinder you use, then the better tasting your coffee will be.

So, if you have a cheap coffee grinder, then grinding your coffee beans the night before is the worst thing you can do because the flavor will degrade even faster.

What about pre-ground coffee?

If you are still unsure if you should grind your coffee beans a night before or a few minutes just before brewing your coffee, there is another safer option for you: Buying pre-ground coffee beans.

One of the great things about pre-ground coffee beans is that they rarely lose their entire flavor.

Besides, they will save you the time you will spend grinding beans that may or may not bring out the type of coffee you enjoy.

Most pre-ground coffee beans you will buy come sealed in airtight packaging that preserves the flavor.  

Last thoughts

If you still want to prove what happens when you grind coffee beans the night before, experiment with a small batch and save the rest.

You’ll have a good idea of how coffee beans ground a night before tastes. 

But at the end of the day, I think you will agree that the time saved by grinding your coffee in advance is not worth the flavor you lose in your cup of coffee.

If you truly love coffee, then do yourself a favor and don’t grind those beans the night before.

You can always get up five minutes early to make sure you have enough time to grind those coffee beans fresh.