You come home from the grocery store after a long day. You’re exhausted, and all you want is to make a brand new pot of the coffee you just bought. You pull the espresso from the grocery bag, and you can almost feel the energy coming back to you. You open the carrier of coffee and – oh, no. You had designed to buy ground coffee, nevertheless, you got the whole bean coffee.
You don’t want to go back to the store, and you don’t have to. We are about to demonstrate smart ways to how to grind coffee beans without a grinder.
- Blender
As the cornerstone of smoothie and shake preparation, a blender is something that almost everyone owns. It can do everything from making delicious frozen beverages to blending up your selected nut butter. Blenders likewise have one other superpower. They can grind coffees in a pinch. There are pros and cons to blending your coffee, nevertheless, you can’t beat the convenience.
If you’re stuck with whole bean coffee, and you don’t have or can’t discover a grinder, one of the easiest ways to grind espresso beans is to simply blend them in the blender. Before you toss them in and blend them, ensure that you tilt the blender a little. That can help the coffee beans come into contact with the blades better.
If you don’t want your coffee to be too bitter, be sure you pulse the blender. This keeps the friction from the blades from heating the oils in the beans and giving them an undesirable flavor. While any blender will do, understand that your beans are a little more roughly ground and can have a different flavour than you’re used to.
- Mortar and Pestle
Probably the most time-intensive method, the mortar and pestle has been used for centuries around the world to grind spices, sauces, salsas, and even meat. This helps it be the ideal prospect for grinding your coffees.
The upside to this method is that you can get an even grind and better flavor. The downside is that, not only is it time-consuming to grind your coffee beans with a mortar and pestle, it’s also energy-intensive. You’re also a lot less more likely to own a mortar and pestle than almost all of the other tools upon this list. Still, when you have one and you’re dedicated to taste, the mortar and pestle won’t disappoint you.
Any mortar and pestle will work, but utilizing a less porous one, such as a ceramic mortar and pestle, will prevent a build-up of bitter coffee flavor. Other mortar and pestles will still work, but kinds made of some stones and wood will absorb the oils from the espresso and emit bitter coffee tastes into anything else that you grind.
- Hammer
This method uses a meat tenderizer to mash your beans into something drinkable. It’s a rough method, but if you are desperate for caffeine it’ll get the job done. It’s most likely the loudest method on this list.
You will desire a ziplock bag, a hard, flat surface like a counter or a cutting board, and a meat tenderizing hammer. Take the amount of beans you would like to use and put them into the ziplock bag. Close the bag and place it on a hard surface. Proceed to hit the beans until they’re ground. If necessary, you can rotate and flip the bag to pound the coffees more thoroughly.
This method will work in a pinch, but it’s not without its downsides. The first flaw in this method is that you can’t ensure an even grind. You will have varying-sized bean chunks when you are done, and that will change the flavor of your coffee. It’s also labor-intensive and time-consuming, but without the results of the mortar and pestle.
When deciding how much coffee to place into the ziplock bag, ensure that you use a tiny amount. This can help you create a more thorough and even grind than trying to employ a bunch. Don’t worry if you didn’t grind enough; you can always grind more.
- Rolling Pin
We tend to associate rolling pins with baking. You use them to make bread, cakes, pastries, rolls, and more. If the recipe requires dough, chances are that there is a rolling pin involved. Rolling pins have another unintended use for those who have nothing else. You can grind coffee beans by crushing them with a rolling pin.
Using a rolling pin is very similar to by using a hammer. They both require ziplock bags and a hard surface. With a rolling pin, rather than hitting it, you crush the beans by rolling the rolling pin backwards and forwards. This yields similar results to the meat tenderizer, though it may take more time.
You can speed up the process by alternating between rolling the beans and pounding them with the hammer. This is probably one of the least recommended methods, and we’d consider it a last resort in the event that you don’t have any of the other items on this usually list.
- Food Processor
Are you someone who needs a little more power than what a blender can provide? Do you own a food processor? If so, you then have access to just one more method to grind coffee.
Similar to a blender, a good food processor can be utilized to grind coffee beans. Put the amount of coffee you would like to brew in to the food processor chip and pulse the coffees for a coarser grind. Just like the blender, you should tilt the food processor a little to obtain additional of the beans.
There aren’t a whole lot of distinctions between a food processor & most blenders when it comes to performance, so if you have both and are wondering which to use, go with whichever one is more readily available.
- Spice Grinder
Spice grinders are used to grind cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, and pretty much any other spice you can imagine. Because they have powerful blades to break up hard seeds and other plant matter, they are a great substitute for a coffee grinder.
Like coffee grinders, spice grinders can be motorized or manual according to your tastes. While a burr grinder would be ideal, most spice grinders will work in a pinch. If it’s an programmed grinder, ensure that you pulse your coffee beans if possible for a far more uniform grind. Should you be utilizing a manual grinder, grind your beans like normal.
While spice grinders can grind the coffee, it isn’t highly recommended for the reason that residue of spices may change the flavor of the coffee, although if it’s all you have it will do.
Other Coffee Grinding Methods
If you are wondering if there are any other ways to grind coffee beans, the short answer is yes, although we can’t recommend them on account of ineffectiveness or, in some instances, unnecessary danger.
Pounding the coffee beans with a knife, as if you might do to crush garlic, is an example of a method that may be dangerous, but it also will yield an unsatisfactory cup of coffee. Trying to use knives for unintended purposes is not advised, specially when trying to crush something hard such as a coffee bean.