Ever had that experience after grinding coffee where the coffee grounds sort of “fly” out of the cup holder when you are removing it and stick to your hands and countertop as you are trying to sweep them up? Me too, and I’ve always wondered about it.
Turns out that grinding beans can generate a lot of static electricity, and it’s made worse by any plastic parts in your grinder (my Virtuoso has a platic catch cup). Oh, and apparently lighter roasts are more prone to generating static (shatter into finer particles and pick up more charge because they are drier and more brittle) which happens to be my go-to.
It also turns out that a guy named Ross came up with a method to minimize the static with a technique known as The Ross Droplet Technique, or RDT. The method consists of adding a tiny amount of water a single droplet—to your whole beans before grinding or spraying them with a water mist from something like a 1–2 oz atomizer. Water is slightly conductive, so even a small bit of it lets the charge dissipate in the same way as touching a metal doorknob to discharges static.
TIL
Comments welcome!