How you can Blend Coffee Beans at Home

Imagine you are at home right now with a bag of coffee as you are excited to small that lovely sweet crisp aroma of brewing coffee. Unfortunately, you open this massive bag of coffee and wow! It's coffee beans instead of coffee grounds. You picked the wrong bag after all.

At this point, you have only two options, you could forfeit your morning cup of coffee while you get grounds. Or in the alternative, you could make do with what you have. But then again you remember, "I have no grinder, how will I turn these beans into ground coffee?"

Fortunately, we have made things easy for you. Here before you is a detailed article on how you can grind your coffee beans at home without a coffee grinder (we also have a guide on how to make coffee at home). After showing you these methods of grinding coffee beans, we will then proceed to show you the different coffee grinds and what you can use them for.

This part is important because like you know, all the methods will not give you results with the same texture. While some of them will give you finer coffee grounds some others will give you coffee grounds with coarse textures.

The article is for those who want to grind coffee beans without a grinder. Therefore if you have a coffee grinder, you can just use that. You can as well read this with the rest of us that do not have coffee grinders if you are curious.

The 4 Different Types of Coffee Grounds

 

Generally speaking, you can get about four coffee grounds for brewing. Each of the methods we will describe below can give you at least one of these grounds. If you can repeat the methods as many times as possible, there is a probability that you might get more than one type of ground from each method. The four types of grinds include:

1. Superfine or pulverised grind
2. Fine grind
3. Medium grind
4. Coarse grind

All the coffee grinding methods we will discuss will give you one of these blends. That is, they will give you at least the coarse blend.

For most people, medium grind coffee is used for drip coffee. However, you can also use fine grind coffee for your dip coffee in some cases.

Below you’ll find the different methods for grinding coffee beans.

Food Processor method

Using a food processor is one of your best bets. This method won't give you a good result like with a coffee grinder however if you need coffee fast, this method will get you something good enough.

Using a food processor for your coffee beans is like using a blender. The only difference is, you will need more coffee beans with a food processor than with a blender. That's because food processors are typically wider than blenders.

To beat this challenge, you need to double the amount of coffee you need in the blender. If you feel it's too much, you can keep the remaining portion for the next day. Only thing is, ensure that you keep them safe in airtight bags.

How to Grind Coffee Beans with a Food Processor

1. Pour between 1/2 cup to 1 cup of coffee beans in the food processor and secure the lid in place.
2. Use the pulse settings to grind the beans for 3 to 5 seconds.
3. Do this as many times as you can until you achieve the consistency that you want. By then you should have spent up to 30 seconds.
4. To be sure the grounds are properly blended, you can tilt the food processor.

Use a Blender

Blenders provide you with an easy way to grind your coffee beans to the right consistency. But then, you should know, there are no methods in the world that can offer you grounds that have the same size. However, blenders can still offer you a good amount of consistency.

Some blenders have a grand setting which makes things just perfect and easier. However, there is no need to panic if your blender doesn't have one of those. You can use the pulse setting instead or you can do things manually on your own.

The process of blending will generate some heat which can roast the beans in the process. If you are not careful, your beans could start to burn while you are still blending them. Therefore, the entire grinding process should exceed 20 seconds. In the extreme, 30 seconds is the maximum you should go.

How to Grind Coffee Beans with a Blender

1. Pour the number of coffee beans you want to grind in the blender. About a quarter or half of a cup should be enough. After pouring in, ensure that you seal the lid in its position.
2. If your blender has a medium-high setting or grinder mode, select it.
3. Now with the settings, grind the coffee beans for about 3 to 5 seconds
4. Repeat the grinding about 6 times and a maximum of 30 seconds.
5. If there is a need, you can tilt the blender while it's grinding to ensure that your grind is consistent.

Rolling Pin Method

You can also use a rolling pin to grind your coffee especially if you are making French press coffee. That's because the French coffee press usually required coarse grounds than those used for drip coffee. While this method requires lots of labour, it can get you what you need in no time.

To do this, you need to put the coffee beans in a plastic bag. Otherwise, you will have many stray coffee beans flying around your kitchen area as you grind them with the pin.

How to Grind Beans using a Rolling Pin

1. Put the number of coffee beans you need in a Ziplock plastic bag. Make sure you let out the air before sealing the bag so you don't burst it in the process.
2. Start out by crushing the beans with the rolling pin.
3. Now, gently drive the rolling pin across the surface of the bag. Ensure to be firm enough and apply some pressure to the beans.
4. As you do this, gather the remnants back the middle and repeat as many times to you get the consistency you want.
5. You need to be patient and repeat as many times as possible to you achieve the coffee ground that you want.

Mortar and Pestle 

As the rolling pin method, the mortar and pestle are equally time and labour intensive. You will only be able to use 1/3 or 1/4 of the capacity of your mortar. This is important so that there would be no overflow or incidence of coffee beans popping out in the process. Because of this, the results from this method might be smaller than what you have in the rolling pin method. So if what you get is not enough for you, you can always make more.

This method will give you a finer ground that you can use for your Chemex or drip coffee. You can also get a coarse ground for French press from the coffee. The final texture will depend on how well you grind the coffee beans and how long you grind them. However, to get a more consistent blend, you might want to stick with fewer coffee beans.

How to Grind Beans with a Mortar and Pestle

1. Pour your beans into the mortar. If you have a small mortar, fill up to 75% while you can fill a large mortar with 60% coffee.
2. For maximum results, hold the pestle in your strongest hand while holding the mortar with the other hand.
3. Push the pestle onto the beans. First, force it in like a hammer then move it in swirling motion.
4. After crushing the beans, continue to move the pestle in circles to grind the beans till you have the consistency that you want.
5. If the quantity of coffee is not enough, clear out the grounds from the mortar and start again.

What is the method of grinding coffee beans?

To conclude, the best method for grinding coffee beans is with a burr grinder. The burr grinder will grind your coffee beans either coarsely or evenly the way you like them. The best burr grinders come with different speeds. To ensure the best results, use the lowest speed so the grinder doesn't generate heat. If you do not have a grinder, you can use a blender. In the alternative, you can blend with any of the above methods. You can also use a hammer or a garlic press.