Sifting coffee grounds has become a popular practice during Brewers Cup routines (whether it gets talked about on stage or not), thanks in no small part to Matt Perger’s 2012 World Brewers Cup winning performance. Despite its ubiquity at the top levels of coffee brewsmanship, coffee sifting hasn’t quite made the crossover to the home coffee geek. But that may soon be changing with the release of Rafino, the first (as best we could tell) coffee grind refining system designed with the home user in mind.
The idea behind sifting coffee is simple. Using only grinds of a similar size will promote even extraction and thus, will allow for more flavor clarity. Even the world’s best grinders don’t create every particle of uniform size; they’re still just crushing machines after all, and crushin’ ain’t exactly precise. So you’ve got to sift out all the mis-sized particles, the fines and boulders as they are often called.
The Rafino works by inserting two mesh sieves – one smaller and one larger than your desired particle size – into their three-tiered system and then simply putting the coffee into the top and shaking. With 11 different screen sizes ranging from 200 to 1,000 microns, the Rafino appears capable of sifting to the preferred grind sizes for most all brewing methods.
After a successful Indiegogo campaign, the Rafino expects to ship in August. You can currently pre-order the 11 sieve system for $95, which may seem like a lot for just some metal screens. But if you’ve read this far in an article entirely about sifting coffee, there’s a pretty good chance you’re willing to pony up the cash.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*top image via Rafino
