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You can, although it is not ideal. Espresso grind is designed for the high pressure of an espresso machine, and in a moka pot the fine particles slow the water so much that the coffee comes out bitter and the plate above the basket can block. If you try it, fill the basket loosely, press nothing down and lift the pot off the heat at the first splutter.

Not for a moka pot. Coarse ground coffee suits the American pump percolator, which pours boiling water over the grounds repeatedly for several minutes. A moka pot brews in a single pass under steam pressure and needs a fine to medium-fine grind; coarse grounds give it a thin, sour result. If your percolator sits on the hob and has a filter basket in the middle, choose moka grind.

A filter coffee machine needs a medium-coarse grind: coarser than espresso, finer than coffee for a French press. With that grind the water takes a few minutes to pass through the paper, long enough to draw out the flavour without bitterness. Too fine a grind risks a bitter jug and an overflowing filter; too coarse, and the coffee tastes thin. Everything on this page is ground for drip machines.

Use about 7 g of ground coffee for a 125 ml cup, which comes to 55 to 65 g for a litre of water when you brew a full jug. Taste the first jug and change the amount a few grams at a time until it suits you. If you measure with a scoop rather than scales, How many scoops of ground coffee per cup? explains the conversion.

Filter coffee is coffee made by letting hot water run slowly through ground coffee held in a paper or metal filter, which keeps the grounds out of your cup. Drip coffee machines work this way, and so do hand brewers such as the Chemex and pour-over cones. Compared with espresso or French press coffee, filter coffee is lighter in body and cleaner in taste.

For pour-over, grind medium-coarse, about the same as for a drip machine or a touch coarser. Because you pour by hand, small corrections are easy: if the water drains quickly and the cup tastes sour, go a little finer; if it stalls in the cone and tastes bitter, go coarser. A Chemex, with its thick paper filters, calls for the slightly coarser Chemex grind.

Freshbrew coffee is filter coffee brewed one cup at a time by a freshbrew machine, the kind often found in offices and catering. For every cup the machine takes a dose of ground coffee, runs hot water through it and a filter, and discards the grounds. You fill it with ordinary filter-ground coffee, so there is no special freshbrew blend or grind to look for.

Yes, in terms of the coffee itself: a freshbrew machine uses the same medium-coarse filter grind as a drip machine. The difference lies in the machine. A drip machine brews a whole jug that then waits on the hotplate, whereas a freshbrew machine brews each cup fresh on demand. A pack of filter coffee therefore works in both.

A freshbrew machine needs ground coffee in a medium-coarse filter grind, unless it has its own grinder, in which case you fill it with whole beans. Espresso-ground coffee is too fine and makes the cups bitter. How strong each cup tastes depends mainly on the dose set on the machine, so adjust that first when you change coffee.

A French press needs a coarse grind, with particles about the size of coarse sea salt. The coffee steeps loose in the water and a metal mesh is all that holds it back, so fine particles would end up in your cup and make the plunger stiff. A coarse grind also stands up to the four-minute steep without turning bitter. All coffee on this page is ground that way.

Four minutes is the standard steeping time for a French press; after that, lower the plunger gently. Much shorter, and the brew tastes thin; much longer, and bitterness creeps in, especially with a grind that is on the fine side. Once pressed, pour the coffee straight away rather than letting it stand on the grounds, where it keeps extracting.

Sludge in French press coffee almost always comes from a grind that is too fine. Small particles pass through the metal mesh and sink to the bottom of the cup. Switch to a properly coarse grind, press slowly so the grounds are not stirred up, and leave the last few centimetres in the pot. A little sediment is normal for a French press, since there is no paper filter.

Put about 60 to 70 g of coarse ground coffee per litre into the French press, pour on water just off the boil, stir once and let it steep for 4 minutes. When the time is up, lower the plunger gently and serve. Our step-by-step guide, Brewing French press coffee, how do you do that?, covers the details, from preheating the jug to cleaning it.

A Chemex needs a medium-coarse grind, slightly coarser than you would use in a drip filter machine. The thick Chemex paper filters slow the water down, so a finer grind makes the filter clog and the coffee bitter. If your brew takes much longer than 5 minutes, go coarser; if it is done in under 4, go a little finer.

Allow around 60 g of ground coffee per litre of water: about 30 g for half a litre, 45 g for 750 ml. Begin with just enough water to moisten the grounds, give them roughly 30 seconds to bloom, and pour the rest in several rounds. With these amounts a full brew takes about 4 to 5 minutes from first pour to last drip.