1 · Watch the fix
A Grind Size Matters video isolates one problem — a bitter shot, a blade grinder, the wrong water — and shows the fix fast, faceless, no fluff.
Better coffee, one fix at a time.
Short, faceless YouTube videos show the fix in under a minute. This site is the other half — the full written guide, the exact numbers, and the gear behind every episode, all in one place.
Video + Site
How the videos and this site work hand in hand
Every episode and every guide point at each other. Watch the fix, read the details, get the gear — without hunting through comments or old descriptions.
2 · Read the full guide
The video description and pinned comment link here, to the matching guide: full steps, the numbers to aim for, and what to change first if it still tastes off.
3 · Get the exact gear
Each guide links the equipment it actually uses. One link, kept current here — so a video from months ago never points at a dead or wrong product.
Featured Gear Pick · Active Affiliate Link
The all-in-one to start with
One machine that grinds, brews, and steams — so a beginner setup doesn't take three separate purchases or half the counter.
Grinder Guide Pick
Mooye Espresso Machine with Grinder — 20 Bar, with Milk Frother
Espresso machine with a built-in grinder and steam wand, in a compact design for espresso, latte, and cappuccino at home. Grind fresh for every shot — the single change this whole channel is built around — without buying a separate grinder first.
| Brand | Mooye |
|---|---|
| Type | Espresso machine with built-in grinder & milk frother / steam wand |
| Pressure | 20 bar |
| Capacity | 1.8 liters |
| Color | Black |
| Dimensions | 10.04″ D × 11.22″ W × 14.17″ H |
| Best for | Espresso, latte & cappuccino at home |
- Built-in grinder — fresh grounds, no second machine
- Steam wand for lattes & cappuccinos
- Compact footprint for a home counter
- 1.8 L tank — fewer refills between drinks
Prices change on Amazon, so this page never prints one — tap through for the current price and availability. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
https://link.amazon/B0dCv3IUh
The Guides
Start with the problem in your cup
Pick a guide below. Each one is the written companion to a video — same fix, more detail.
18 grams is not the shot
Pairs with Episode 18 · “18 Grams Is Not the Shot”
The most common mix-up for new espresso makers: 18 is what goes in — not what comes out. 18 is grams of dry coffee in the basket. The shot itself is measured by what lands in the cup, and by the clock.
- Dose in: 18 g. Weigh the dry grounds going into the portafilter.
- Yield out: 36 g. Put the cup on a scale and stop the shot at about twice the dose — a 1:2 ratio.
- Time: 25–30 seconds. Too fast? Grind finer. Too slow and choking? Grind coarser. That adjustment is grind size mattering.
- “40” means grams out, not seconds. If a recipe says 40, it's 40 g of espresso in the cup — not a 40-second pull.
Gear for this guide: the Mooye machine above for grinding and brewing, plus any small kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 g.
Blade grinder hacks
Pairs with Episode 12 · Blade Grinder Hacks → this grinder guide
A blade grinder chops unevenly — dust and boulders in the same pile — and uneven grounds extract unevenly. You can't turn it into a burr grinder, but you can get much closer than the default shake-and-blast.
- Pulse, don't hold. Short 3–5 second bursts let the grounds redistribute instead of cooking in one spot.
- Shake between pulses. A quick shake settles the big pieces back into the blades.
- Sift if you can. A small tea strainer drops the dust that over-extracts and turns the cup bitter.
- Grind right before brewing. Pre-ground stales in hours; fresh-ground is the whole point.
- Know the upgrade path. When you're ready, a machine with a built-in grinder — like the Mooye featured pick — removes the guesswork entirely.
Water, scale & kettle
Pairs with Episode 14 · Water → this scale & kettle guide
Coffee is mostly water, and “a scoop and a guess” is why the same beans taste different every morning. Three cheap controls fix almost all of it.
- Weigh everything. Beans and water, every time. A scale turns a lucky cup into a repeatable one — and it's how the 18 g → 36 g shot above works at all.
- Mind the water itself. If tap water tastes off, the coffee will too. Filtered water is the simplest upgrade most kitchens skip.
- Watch temperature. Just off the boil for most brews; boiling water scorches grounds and pulls bitterness forward.
- Keep the ratio written down. When a cup is great, the numbers let you make it again tomorrow.
Fix bitter coffee
The troubleshooting guide behind the channel's bitter-shot fixes
Bitter usually means over-extracted: the water pulled too much, for too long, from too-fine grounds. Change one thing at a time, in this order.
- Grind coarser first. One step coarser is the fastest bitter fix there is — it's the channel name for a reason.
- Shorten the contact. For espresso, check you're not running far past 30 seconds to hit your yield.
- Cool the water slightly. Let the kettle sit 30–60 seconds off the boil.
- Check freshness. Stale beans and a dirty machine both read as harsh, not just bitter — clean and retest before blaming the recipe.
Sour instead of bitter? That's the opposite problem — under-extracted. Grind finer and give it more time.
Decaf, done right
Pairs with Episode 13 · Decaf → this decaf guide
Decaf gets treated like a lesser coffee, so it gets brewed carelessly — then blamed for tasting flat. Brewed with the same care, it doesn't have to.
- Buy it fresh and whole-bean. Decaf stales faster than regular beans; grind right before brewing, same rule as everything here.
- Grind a touch finer. Decaf often needs a slightly finer grind or a little more contact time to extract fully.
- Don't overdose to compensate. Keep the ratio; fix extraction with grind and time, not by piling in more coffee.
- Store it sealed and use it sooner. Smaller bags, finished faster, beat a big bag going stale on the counter.
Try It Now
The 18 → 36 shot calculator
Episode 18's rule, made interactive. Set your dose and ratio — get the yield to stop at and the time window to aim for.
Dial in your shot
Start at 1:2 — 18 g in, 36 g out, in 25–30 seconds. Then adjust grind, not the numbers, until the time lands in range.
Stop at 36 g out
- Dose in
- 18 g
- Yield out
- 36 g
- Target time
- 25–30 seconds
- If it runs fast
- Grind finer
- If it chokes / runs slow
- Grind coarser
Posting Pattern
Every video gets a guide. Every guide gets a video.
This is the loop to repeat for every new episode: the description and pinned comment link to the guide below — never straight to Amazon — and the guide carries the gear link.
| Video | Matching guide on this site | Gear in that guide |
|---|---|---|
| Ep. 18 — 18 Grams Is Not the Shot | 18 Grams Is Not the Shot | Mooye machine + 0.1 g scale |
| Ep. 12 — Blade Grinder Hacks | Blade Grinder Hacks (grinder guide) | Mooye machine with built-in grinder |
| Ep. 14 — Water | Water, Scale & Kettle | Scale & kettle picks |
| Ep. 13 — Decaf | Decaf, Done Right | Fresh whole-bean decaf picks |
| Bitter-shot fixes | Fix Bitter Coffee | Grinder-first troubleshooting |
Paste this into each video description
Full guide + the gear I used: https://grindsizematters.com/#guides — As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
For George · Launch Steps
Publish this site to grindsizematters.com
Domain bought and hosting active at Namecheap — this is the remaining path from this draft to live. About five minutes of clicking once the file is in hand.
- Approve this draftRead through the page — guides, the Mooye pick, specs, and links. Nothing goes live without your yes.
- Export the fileExport this site and save the file, renamed to exactly index.html.
- Open your hosting file managerLog in to Namecheap → Hosting → Manage → File Manager (cPanel) → open the public_html folder.
- Upload index.htmlUpload the file into public_html. If an old placeholder index file is there, replace it.
- Turn on free SSLIn cPanel, open SSL/TLS Status and run AutoSSL so the site loads as https:// — browsers and Amazon both expect it.
- Visit grindsizematters.comThe site should be live. A brand-new domain can take a little while to show up everywhere — if it doesn't load right away, wait a bit and try again.
- Wire up the next videoAdd this site's link to the channel About page, paste the disclosure into YouTube Studio's upload defaults, and put the matching guide link in the next video's description and pinned comment.
Amazon Associates rules baked into this page
The exact disclosure line
“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases” appears at the top of this page, in the featured pick, and in the footer — and goes in video descriptions too.
No typed-in prices
Prices change, so guides say “check current price on Amazon” instead of printing a number that goes stale.
Register both properties
The Associates account must list both grindsizematters.com and the Grind Size Matters YouTube channel — links may only appear on registered properties.
Never buy through your own links
Own purchases — and asking family to buy — don't count and can get the account closed. Qualifying sales must come from real viewers and readers.
About & The Fine Print
About Grind Size Matters
Grind Size Matters is a coffee troubleshooting channel and guide site: faceless, fix-first videos paired with written guides you can follow at your own machine. One brand across YouTube and the web — if a video sent you here, you're in the right place.
Affiliate Disclosure
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy through them, Grind Size Matters may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Gear is picked because a guide uses it — a product earns its place by fixing the problem in the cup.
How picks are chosen
- Guides lead; products follow the fix.
- Specs are listed exactly as the maker states them.
- Prices and availability are only ever shown on Amazon itself.
- Labels stay honest: researched picks are never dressed up as hands-on tests.
Privacy, in plain terms
This is a static guide site: no accounts, no sign-ups, no comment forms, and nothing you type into the shot calculator leaves your browser — it runs entirely on this page.
Outbound links (Amazon, YouTube) are run by those companies under their own privacy policies once you click through.