Once in a while someone finds a thin fiber in their beans or grounds and thinks the worst. Fair question, so here is the answer.
It is almost never a hair. It is coffee.
Coffee chaff
A coffee bean comes wrapped in a papery skin called silverskin. Roasting dries it out and it flakes off. Roasters call it chaff. Most of it blows away, but a few pieces stay with the beans, and in hot water a curled piece of chaff straightens into a thin brown strand that looks a lot like a hair.
Jute from the bag
Green coffee ships in woven jute bags, the rough burlap you have seen in every coffee photo ever taken. Jute sheds. A few fibers travel along with the beans, and once in a while one makes it to your cup.
Both are harmless
Chaff is part of the coffee fruit. Jute is a plant fiber, and jute bags have been the standard way to ship coffee for well over a century. Neither will hurt you and neither changes the taste. Spoon it out and drink your coffee.
You may see it a little more often in ours, since our roast keeps more of the chaff with the beans.
