How to Grind Coffee Beans with a Blender | 7 Alternatives of Coffee Grinder

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Getting up from bed at 3 in the morning and deciding to make some coffee. You head towards the kitchen and find out that the beans are not ground. You reach for the grinder and can’t seem to find it. At this point, you start brainstorming, thinking of other solutions. Questions like “Can you grind coffee beans in a blender?”, “how to grind coffee beans with a blender” and “What about a rolling pin?” start floating over your head. While you stand there trying to light a bulb above your head, you head on back to bed and stumble upon our article.

Grinding beans might not be your favorite thing to do, but alas, to get coffee, you’ll have to move your muscles a bit. As for your brain, we’ll help power it up. Now let us suppose the grinder is not available at the moment, and your desire for coffee simply cannot be suppressed. In this case, the solution is in your kitchen. Where in the kitchen, you ask? Well, you know better where you keep the blender and the mortar as well as the pestle. Yep, that’s right. Grinding beans is not that hard. You just have to be a bit creative, get those muscles warmed up, and improvise.

Ways to Grind Coffee Beans Without a Grinder

To get right to the point, there are several ways to grind coffee beans without a grinder. In this article, we’ll be going through the easiest and simplest methods. Ready to have us guide you through them? Here we go!

• Using a Blender

Using a blender to grind your coffee beans is perhaps one of the easiest ways of getting the job done without a grinder. Known to be the finest alternate to a grinder, the blender has blades that can slice your coffee beans into tiny little grains with ease. As a matter of fact, some blenders even come with a special grinding option. If you can get your hands on one of those, that would be great. Even if you don’t have a grinding option on your blender, that will work too. However, you’d have to be a slight bit careful.

Blenders have razor-sharp blades that spin at high levels of speed. Your coffee beans might be heated if not handled with care in a blender. So, here is the exact best practice through which you can grind coffee beans with a blender.

1. Put a small number of coffee beans in the grinder and close the lid properly.
2. Set the grinder on a medium-level setting.
3. Grind your beans for a split second and stop.
4. Grind in quick short sequences for an ideal outcome.
5. Repeat until the beans are fully ground.
6. Empty your blender and add new beans until you have enough.
7. Wash your blender thoroughly after use.

We have already mentioned above why grinding beans for more than a few seconds at once is a bad idea. For this process to go as smooth as possible, make sure you tilt your blender slightly. This will make the movement of the beans inside the blender easier, and the blade will evenly hit all of them. Lastly, ensure you wash your blender jug right after. Leaving it as it is for too long will leave a coffee smell that would be hard to get rid of.

• Using a Rolling Pin

A rolling pin is another alternative you can go for grinding coffee beans without a grinder. Of course, in this method, you’ll need bits of that raw strength of yours. If you can get this done right, expect a finer texture in your ground coffee since the rolling pin gets the job done very well. However, even if you don’t have a rolling pin at hand, try looking for other similar instruments. A large cylindrical-shaped bottle might do the trick as well. So, without further ado, let us get right into rolling coffee beans. Before we start, get yourself a zip bag and a spacious counter to get this done. 

1. Put a certain amount of coffee beans into the plastic bag and make sure it is zipped properly with as little air as possible.
2. Place the plastic bag flat out on the counter space or a chopping board. Evenly distribute the beans in empty spaces.
3. Push the rolling pin on your beans. You’ll need to apply heavy pressure on the rolling pin as you roll it forward.
4. Roll the pin in to-and-fro motion till all beans are crushed evenly.
5. Once you feel like they’re all done, take them out and repeat the same in the next batch if needed.

As you can see, this procedure was a bit labor-intensive, but the outcome would be better than you expected. Our pro tip for this method is to try doing this on the floor if you cannot exert enough force on your kitchen counter. Doing this on the floor will help you place your own upper body weight for additional assistance.

• Using a Hammer

A hammer or a mallet is similar to the process mentioned above, but it requires less force. If you’re thinking about hitting the beans with the hammer, then stop right away. You won’t be whacking the hammer on your beans. Instead, you’ll be crushing them by gently pushing the hammer’s head onto the beans. As for the outcome, we believe you’ll be getting finely crushed beans if you do this with care.

 

1. Similar to our previous method, evenly distribute your coffee beans in a plastic zip bag.
2. Push the hammer’s head onto the beans and feel the hammer crushing them.
3. Don’t hit the beans at all. Keep pressing down with the hammer until you reach the desired results.

The reason why you’re not hitting the beans with your hammer is that doing so will result in unevenly crushed beans. You don’t know where you’re hitting while crushing with the head in the heat of the moment. It would be hard to check which area is done and which one still needs more whacking. 

• Using a Knife

Using a knife to grind your coffee beans is an unpopular but effective method. Before we move forward with the process, let us clear that you certainly won’t be chopping the beans into fine little grains. Instead, you’ll be pressing down the knife’s thick blade flat onto the beans. For this, you’ll need a big knife with a wide blade. It does not have to be sharp since you won’t be using the edge. A thick and heavy-duty blade is preferred. So, here we go crushing beans with our knife!

1. You won’t be needing any plastic zip bags this time. Spread the beans on a cutting board evenly.
2. Position your knife’s blade flat on the beans and start pressing down.
3. Press down gently in slow motion. Doing the opposite will make your kitchen an airport for the coffee beans.
4. Once you see that the beans are now crushed, try tilting the blade slightly on the other sides to get the most out of the crushing.
5. Repeat until your desired amount is crushed.

The outcome of this method won’t be as fine as our previous methods. So, only go for the knife if you really have to. Moreover, you’ll certainly find your beans shooting out below your knife. This would be annoying, but the best bet you have at dealing with this is through using a sheet or towel on top of your knife when pressing down. This way, the coffee beans won’t launch themselves out into your kitchen and put more work of cleaning upon your shoulders.

• Using a Food Processor

Now we’re dropping down to extreme measures since this method is all about grinding coffee beans with a food processor. Well, if that’s what it takes for us to save you from going all the way to the espresso drive-through, then so be it. The food processor is a lot similar to the blender. You’ll be having a similar outcome as the blender gave you. However, the food processor just has a larger capacity, so your coffee beans would be slightly differently crushed as compared to the blender.

 

1. Pour a cup or so of coffee beans into the food processor.
2. Close the lid properly so that there are no chances of mishaps.
3. Use the same blender grinding technique, short quick grinding in each sequence, no longer than a second or two.
4. Tilt the food processor around for optimal performance and evenly ground beans.
5. Repeat until you have enough ground coffee beans.

The short quick technique of grinding is the best way to grind coffee beans. You’ll have perfect sizes of coffee grains after you’re done with this. Furthermore, the tilting effect will assist beans in other spaces to make their way to the blade. Hence, adding the element of balance into the grinding process.

• Using a Mincer

Using a mincer to grind coffee beans is not similar to any of our previously explained methods. It doesn’t matter whether it is a vegetable mincer or a meat mincer; coffee beans do great in both. Simply put, the beans are poured into the top of the mincer and come out in smaller pieces. However, the only drawback in question is the large holes most mincers usually have. If you have a mincer with small holes, then it is less work for you, but if you don’t, you’ll have to repeat the process a few times for a suitable outcome.

1. Put a small number of coffee beans into the food mincer.
2. Push them in thoroughly such that all of them go into the mincing machine.
3. Run the machine and see if the beans are properly minced when they come out. You’ll most probably have to repeat the process 2-3x for an ideal result.

Always make sure to put a small number of beans in the mincer. You’ll have to be patient to get the result you want from the mincer. Nonetheless, we believe this method is just as simple and easy as the previous ones.

• Using a Mortar and a Pestle

The mortar and pestle are perhaps some of the oldest tools of grinding and crushing spices and herbs. Ideal for making a fine powder from coffee beans, the mortar and pestle can easily get the job done. In all honesty, you should always be used to carrying out such tasks by hand. The mortar and pestle are a combination of rolling and hammering at the same time. The only drawback is that you’ll be crushing a small number of beans at once.

 

1. Pour a handful of coffee beans into the mortar. Be sure to not overfill it. For best results, leave ¾ space free in the mortar.
2. Tightly hold the mortar with your hand and use the pestle with the other.
3. Press down with the pestle on the beans. Twist it once it is fully pressed down.
4. Keep repeating with force. Move the pestle around in the mortar and target big specks of beans.
5. Once you see that the beans are fully and evenly ground, empty the mortar and repeat the process with the next batch.

Large-sized mortars and pestles are only owned mostly by chefs. If you have one of those, that would be great. However, if you have a small size, you’ll have to make do with small batches at a time. But when you see those finely ground coffee beans, you won’t regret going for the mortar and pestle.

Conclusion

So, those were our top methods of grinding coffee beans without a grinder. Some of these require your strength, while others require your patience. Nonetheless, all of them would give you a result similar to what the grinder gets you. You can now have your much-awaited cup of coffee. You can thank us later for saving you a trip to the espresso drive-through.

For further information, you can also check out some of the best YouTube tutorials on How To Grind Coffee Beans Without A Grinder.

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