Making espresso at home is a fantastic way to enjoy barista-quality coffee at your convenience, allowing you to indulge in a rich, aromatic cup without leaving the comfort of your own kitchen. If you’ve invested in a home espresso setup, you're probably eager to find ways to brew the best possible coffee, using the most efficient techniques and practices. Achieving the perfect shot of espresso involves a variety of factors, from choosing the right coffee beans and equipment to mastering the art of tamping and dialing in your grind size.

One technique that many home espresso enthusiasts are beginning to adopt is spraying coffee beans before grinding. Coffee machines are even starting to be supplied with small coffee spray bottles to encourage users to do this.
But **why spray coffee beans before grinding?** And **how will this improve your espresso shot?**

1. Reduce Static for less mess

The main reason people are encouraged to spray coffee beans prior to grinding is because this reduces the amount of static. Therefore you have less coffee grounds sticking to the side of your portafilter/grinder so you use all of the grounds whilst creating less mess.
This can be great for making sure you brew accurately by using all of the coffee you grind and also reduced waste.

2. Greater Brewing Recipe Accuracy

This technique significantly improves the accuracy of your brewing recipe by minimizing waste and ensuring that every single bean you weigh out before grinding ends up in your portafilter.
When you spray coffee beans before grinding, it reduces the likelihood of grounds being left behind in the grinder or scattering outside the portafilter. As a result, the amount of coffee you’ve measured is more precisely reflected in your final dose, making it easier to stick to the brewing recipe you’ve developed.
This level of precision is especially important for consistency, as it ensures that the same amount of coffee is being used every time you brew. The more accurate and consistent your dosing, the better control you have over the extraction process, ultimately resulting in a more reliable and delicious shot of espresso each time.
By reducing waste and improving consistency, this technique helps you fine-tune your brewing process, leading to a more refined and predictable cup every time you brew.

3. Less Grinder Maintenance

Spraying the beans before grinding has the added benefit of reducing the amount of coffee grounds that get stuck to the sides of your grinder.

When the beans are lightly misted with water, it helps the coffee particles stick together, rather than scattering and sticking to the grinder’s interior.

This means less buildup of grounds inside your grinder, leading to a cleaner and more efficient grinding process. As a result, you won’t have to spend as much time cleaning your grinder, which can save you effort and make your routine more convenient.

Over time, this can also help maintain the performance of your grinder, ensuring it operates smoothly and consistently for longer periods between deep cleans.

*TIP: Make Sure The Beans Don’t Get Too Wet*

There is one thing to be careful of when doing this, and that’s to make sure you don’t make the beans too wet by spraying too much. If the beans get too wet then this could have a negative effect on your brewing process. It’s best to just spray the beans lightly without adding too much moisture. A couple of sprays should do.

TIP: Shake The Beans After Spraying

After spraying your beans a few times, it’s a good idea to gently shake the container to disperse the droplets amongst all the beans. This prevents just the top beans benefiting from the spray.

TIP: Check Your Grinder First

Spraying your coffee beans will generally always have some benefit as mentioned above, however whether it’s worth your time requires a little more thought. We’ve found that when making espresso and griding coffee directly into the portafilter, we don’t see as much static build up and therefore skip this step when short on time. However, when griding directly into a separate container (for V60, French Press, etc) we see a lot more static and mess, so we make sure to always spray beforehand. So check the amount of static produced by your grinder to determine how necessary it is to spray.

Which Coffee Spray Bottle Should You Buy?

Most small coffee spray bottles will do the job, just make sure you buy on that is small enough to spray your measured beans without getting the rest of your equipment wet. Look for one that’s roughly 10cm tall. Shop Now On Amazon

So, should you start to spray coffee beans before grinding?

Overall this seems like an easy and relatively effortless step to add to your espresso making process which can help reduce coffee waste, unnecessary mess and improve your brew ratio consistency. If you want perfect coffee and often find you waste grounds when griding then I would definitely recommend doing this every time you grind. However, if you are short on time and your grinder doesn’t produce too much static then it won’t hurt to skip this step.

I’d recommend buying a small spray bottle from a local homeware store if your machine didn’t already come with one. It won’t necessarily improve the taste of your brew, but it will make your griding process more efficient.