What is single dosing?

Single dosing has become a hallmark of the modern home coffee enthusiast's workflow. Traditionally, many grinders feature a large hopper designed to hold a full bag of beans, which are then fed into the burrs as needed. While convenient for high-volume cafes, this approach often leads to stale coffee. Beans sitting in a hopper are exposed to oxygen, light, and humidity, all of which accelerate the degradation of flavor. Furthermore, traditional grinders often suffer from 'retention'—the tendency for ground coffee to get trapped in the chute or burr chamber, meaning your next shot is a mix of fresh coffee and stale grounds from yesterday.

By contrast, single dosing treats every brew as an individual event. You weigh your beans precisely before putting them into the grinder, and you grind until the machine is empty. This eliminates the need for a large hopper, which is why many single-dose grinders are designed with small, minimalist profiles. Because you are only grinding what you need, you ensure that the coffee in your cup is as fresh as possible, preserving the nuanced flavor notes that define specialty coffee.

This workflow also offers significant benefits for experimentation. If you enjoy switching between different single-origin coffees or brewing methods, single dosing makes it easy to change beans without wasting coffee or dealing with the 'purge'—the process of grinding away a few grams of coffee to clear out the previous bean variety. It turns the grinder into a precise tool rather than a storage vessel.

In practice, single dosing requires a bit more effort, as you must weigh your beans for every cup. However, for those who prioritize consistency and freshness, the trade-off is well worth it. It allows you to dial in your recipes with extreme accuracy, knowing exactly how much coffee is entering the brew, which is essential for achieving the perfect extraction every time.