I tried this after I read the article. Adding a few drops of water does seem to help when I grind coffee beans at home. Just a couple of drops.
Interesting. But I must’ve missed the “why” readers were promised.
I’ve always wondered (and wonder still) why coffee grinders don’t come with bins and housings that are grounded to discharge the static electricity. Like the old-style drag strap hanging off a car. Making the machines and bins from plastic has to be a big part of the problem.
Did this impact your coffee grinder at all? I have an Oxo grinder and I’d worry about mucking it up with even a little bit of water in the blades.
I don’t think 1-2 drops as they suggested will harm your blades. It’s going to get sucked in by the grounds. Trying it once won’t hurt.
I tried this tonight for tomorrow’s drip pot: emptied the grinder’s feed hopper. Measured out a pot’s worth of beans into a bowl, added 3 drops of water and mixed well. Ground the beans.
Result had slightly less agglomeration on the inside wall of the grind hopper, but still a goodly amount. Nowhere near eliminating static cling.
Tomorrow we’ll see how the “static free” brew tastes…
No, not so far. What @Rainycatcooks says has been my experience. The few drops of water I have been adding disappear into the coffee beans. Not enough to leave moisture on the grinder.
We have a cheapo blade grinder, and in my case the addition of the few drops of water appears to help the coffee grind more smoothly. I’m a sample of one, of course.
The coffees I get vary widely in terms of how much chaff is generated during the grind (e.g., everything I get from Onyx Coffee Lab grinds very “cleanly”). For those beans where I get a lot of chaff, I find that the water trick does help.
No difference in the brew.
I think the only practical way to do this is never to fill the feed hopper. Spritz in a cup and then dump in the hopper. Not willing to do that without a flavor payback…
For the anal retentive, how about a cigar humidor for coffee beans?
