Is it possible to grind anything other than coffee in a coffee grinder? Choosing between a blender and a coffee grinder What can you grind in a coffee grinder besides coffee?

10.08.2023

True coffee lovers know that the taste of a precious drink largely depends not only on the type of coffee, but also on its grinding. In order not to be disappointed in choosing a coffee grinder, we advise you to find out in advance what you should pay attention to first and which models are best avoided.

Which coffee grinder is better to buy?

According to coffee connoisseurs, a good coffee grinder requires:

Grind evenly so that the ground coffee particles are the same size,
Heat the coffee to a minimum. When the beans are heated during grinding, essential oils are released, which should get into the drink and not remain in the coffee grinder.
Have the ability to adjust the grinding. Different coffee recipes require different degrees of grinding - from very fine (for espresso coffee) to coarse (for brewing in a French press).

The most popular are coffee grinders with grinders - knives (rotary) and millstones, in which coffee is ground using steel or ceramic millstones. Choosing a good coffee grinder depends on your preferences.

Rotary coffee grinders (with blades)

Advantages:

low price (from 500 rubles),
In addition to coffee, you can grind any other products - powdered sugar, nuts, etc. By design, this is a small blender.

Flaws:

uneven grinding. You can grind the beans evenly only very finely by turning on the coffee grinder for a long time - but the coffee gets very hot, and this will have a bad effect on the taste of the drink.

Burr coffee grinders

Advantages:

uniform high-quality grinding,
possibility of grinding adjustment,
does not heat the grains.

A great unit for coffee lovers! But there is also flaw- their price is higher (from 1500-2000 rubles).

Manual burr coffee grinders

Advantages:

grinds grains evenly, grinding can be adjusted;
are relatively inexpensive - from 1000 rubles;
will decorate any kitchen.

Flaws:

It will take time and considerable effort to grind the grains.

Therefore, when choosing a coffee grinder, consider the advantages and disadvantages of each type of device. And pay attention to additional functions:

The pulse mode of operation of the coffee grinder will be necessary if you need to grind particularly hard products. The engine runs with short pauses.
The manually adjustable dispenser helps to grind a certain amount of coffee.
Additional functions, such as a tamper or auto-lock when the cover is removed, are not strictly necessary functions, but will make using the device easier.

Negative rating, or what is better not to take

If, when buying a coffee grinder, you have not yet finally decided on your choice, then first you should find out which devices are less practical:

Avoid products made from plastic; their service life is much shorter than their stainless steel counterparts.
It is better not to purchase a coffee grinder without an additional bowl for ground coffee, which is usually the case with rotary machines. Getting the finished product out from under sharp knives is not only problematic, but also dangerous. Remember that caring for such a device is also difficult.
If you have a small kitchen, you should not purchase a device that does not have a device for winding the cord, otherwise it will be inconvenient to store it. However, this aspect is not decisive.
Do not purchase a device without rubber “feet”; they provide the coffee grinder with good stability in operating mode.

I know for sure that some people use meat grinders and blenders to grind grains. I propose to find out together whether it is possible to grind coffee beans with a blender.

Coffee Grinding Methods

First, I’ll tell you where you can grind coffee:

Image	Adaptations
	Coffee grinder. Ideal for those who brew coffee every day. Not too expensive and easy to use, it is designed specifically for grinding hard products.
	Hammer. An equally common way to grind grains. Housewives use a meat hammer for this. The beans are first placed in a bag or paper - this way the coffee won’t scatter all over the kitchen and the hammer won’t get dirty.
	Meat grinder. Grandma's old method is not popular these days. Why? It’s just that only the old-style technique – manual – is suitable for it. If you grind coffee in a mechanical model, you can ruin it once and for all. If even one grain gets into the engine - hello, a complete replacement, not at all cheap.
	Blender. It is often used by beginners and those who want coffee from fresh ground beans a couple of times a month. The technique, of course, will cope, but using it too often to grind hard grains will sooner or later break the mechanism.

I was able to try grinding with a hammer. For those who are interested in how to grind coffee this way, I have attached a video in this article.

Blender capabilities: functions

To understand whether it is possible to grind coffee with a blender, you need to understand its main functions:

Photo	Description
	Function 1. Grinding This blender feature involves cutting fruits and vegetables using various attachments.
	Function 2: Mixing This possibility involves the transformation of products into a homogeneous mass. As a rule, this is the preparation of purees, sauces, minced meat and drinks.
	Function 3. Splitter Many modern models are equipped with attachments for crushing ice, grains and other hard dry products. This feature will turn anything into powder.

Proper grinding of coffee in a blender: 3 rules for preparing equipment

To grind coffee in a blender without negative consequences for your equipment and your health, you should follow a couple of simple rules:

Photo	Recommendations
	Rule 1. A lid is required. Otherwise, the walls, floor, and furniture will know about your desire to grind coffee in a blender, and pieces of beans will fly onto them.
	Rule 2. Remember to thoroughly wipe the bowl and attachments with a dry cloth. Any contact of the product with moisture risks spoilage.
	Rule 3. If you have a choice of capacities, give preference to low ones - this way you will not overload the equipment.

While grinding, periodically observe the blender's reaction - if anything makes you doubt that the procedure will be successful, try a different technique.

A hand blender is best suited for grinding grains because you have complete control over its operation. With your competent actions you will prevent premature failure:

Image	Instructions
	Tip 1. Prepare all parts of the blender. To ensure that you can grind the grain as finely as possible, choose an attachment with the largest number of knives.
	Tip 2. Pour the grains into the bowl. Their number should not completely cover the cutting part of the nozzle. Remember that the remaining grains compressed under the blades will be quite difficult to remove.
	Tip 3. Grind your coffee at low settings, giving the machine time to rest. If you feel that the mechanism is heating up, interrupt the procedure for 10–15 minutes.

If you have a stationary blender in your arsenal, you also cannot do without rules. Keep in mind that these models are designed for soft products, and manufacturers do not always expect that they will find a resourceful buyer.

Regardless of whether your coffee grinder is manual or electric, it is designed to perform only one function - grinding coffee. But our people are so smart that they instantly expanded the functionality of this device. What other purposes is a coffee grinder used for? What can you grind in it besides coffee? How will its use for other purposes affect the device? Let's figure it out together.

Theoretically, you can grind anything that fits in a coffee grinder. But can this be done in practice? When buying a device in a store, pay attention to the package included with it. instructions. In it, the manufacturer indicates what else can be ground besides coffee.

If you have been using the coffee grinding device for more than a year, and there is no opportunity to study the instructions, you risk damaging the coffee grinder by using it for other purposes.

Considered the most universal millstone coffee grinder Using it, you can adjust the grind size. After all, some products need to be ground into powder, and when grinding others, achieve a coarse grind.

You can also use electric knife coffee grinder But a specific device model must be considered separately. It all depends on the quality of the knives and the power of the device.

Grinding cereals

A coffee grinder can be used to grind various cereals. Of course, you can buy chaff in the store, but sometimes there is a need for a finer fraction. This happens, for example, among young mothers when they begin to introduce porridge into the diet of their babies. And the ability to adjust the grind level is invaluable. At first, the cereals are ground into flour, which makes it possible to achieve the consistency of puree in the finished dish. The most commonly ground grains are buckwheat, corn, rice, oatmeal, pearl barley and wheat.

Before grinding cereals, they should be washed and dried thoroughly. Raw cereal will not grind well and will stick to the knives.

How to grind spices correctly

You can grind in a coffee grinder almost all spices. Devices with millstones are best suited for spices, as they do not cut, but grind the seeds.

The following spices are suitable for grinding:

black pepper;
dried chilli peppers;
salt;
cardamom;
cinnamon;
mustard seeds;
dry herbs;
dried garlic;
dried horseradish root;
flax grains;
sesame seeds.

Before loading spices for grinding into a coffee grinder, they need to be calcined in a dry frying pan. Thanks to this, the grinding will be of high quality and the aroma of the spices will be fully revealed.

“The need for invention is cunning”

And what not is ground in a coffee grinder! For ease of use, grind sea salt. After all, the smaller it is, the easier it is to dissolve. Grind dried vegetables, fruits and berries without seeds. Cocoa beans are ground to make the drink.

What is Kolivo without poppy seeds? True, grinding it in a mortar is a rather troublesome and time-consuming task, but you can grind poppy seeds for kutya in a coffee grinder in a matter of seconds. Some users even manage to beat egg whites in a coffee grinder!

What foods are taboo?

Regardless of the brand of the device, its power and the quality of the knives, there are general rules that prohibit chopping certain products:

It is strictly forbidden to place too hard products into the coffee grinder. After all, they can lead to damage to the device.
It is not recommended to grind ingredients with high fat content (for example, nutmeg and walnuts).
Also, do not use a coffee grinder to obtain powdered sugar. This is because sugar has a relatively low melting point. When grinding sand, the device heats up and the sugar begins to melt. And within a few seconds it sticks to the knives of the unit.
Despite the prohibitions, some still manage to grind sugar in a coffee grinder. If you really need it, we recommend breaking the whole process into several steps of 2-3 seconds. This is necessary to ensure that the device heats up to a minimum.

Undoubtedly, you can grind anything that fits in size in a coffee grinder, but is it worth it? Please note that when grinding various grains and spices, the knives of the device become saturated with all sorts of odors that will spoil the aroma of coffee. This device can solve this problem with replaceable knives: One can be used for coffee and the other for spices.

It is best to purchase two devices: one for grinding coffee, and the other for everything else.

Please note that if the coffee grinder breaks down due to use not in accordance with the instructions, you cannot count on repairs under warranty.

Whether you should use a coffee grinder to grind various ingredients or not is up to you to decide. But take into account our advice: use the device only for grinding coffee, otherwise you risk interrupting the unique aroma of ground coffee beans with the smell of spices. And for grinding various cereals and spices, buy a universal mill!

I was sorely missing a coffee grinder, we settled on this model solely because of the company, and so far I don’t regret it at all!

It looks stylish, grinds instantly, the coffee grinder is lightweight, but I’m afraid to wash it, I wipe the inside with a sponge after each product. Due to the fact that the bottom of the bowl is inclined, it grinds easily and flawlessly, even when you pour more than you should.

With the purchase of the BOSCH MKM 6003 coffee grinder, my taste buds rejoice, now the dried garlic is like dust, invisible and aromatic, not a single piece, grinds perfectly.

Sugar turns into powder in 10 seconds.

Large and incredibly hard pieces of dried horseradish, which I had difficulty breaking even with a hammer, were ground in one go, although then I had to wait for the machine to cool down.

Dried pieces of beets, I break them up and grind them, mmm, what a aroma, beetroot and herring under a fur coat with such beets turn out to be great.

Chokeberry berries can also be ground, so the taste in the tea becomes richer, and more nutrients are added to the tea.

It grinds fried and dried onions into dust so that the husband, who hates onions, does not even suspect that they are in the dish.

Corn grits turn into cornmeal in no time, and the flour makes amazing bread.

The coffee grinder is amazing, it grinds perfectly, for example, I needed a fairly large parsley root, so I pressed it a couple of times and it turned out to be exactly the size I needed, I clearly didn’t make a mistake with the choice, I recommend it to you too.

A person who is always in a hurry and always busy most likely does not need the item discussed in this article at all; he can buy already ground coffee, packaged in packages. But if such a person stops for a few minutes in order to finally feel the real exquisite aroma of coffee, taste its taste, then he simply cannot do without a coffee grinder, because only from freshly ground coffee can a real aromatic drink be brewed. Today, coffee beans are ground by two types of coffee grinders, divided into types according to the method of grinding the beans: grinding with a millstone and grinding with a rotating knife.

Blade coffee grinders. Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages: low cost. Blade coffee grinders are almost half the price of coffee grinders that use millstones to grind beans. The size of knife coffee grinders is usually small: the average load volume is 30-80 g of beans. The operating principle of such coffee grinders is not complicated; it resembles the operation of a blender: a sharp knife rotating at high speed chops the poured grains into pieces. The degree of coffee grinding directly depends on the operating time of the knives; the longer the coffee grinder operates, the smaller the knives will grind the grains into. Disadvantage: You won’t be able to get uniformly ground coffee using a blade coffee maker. But you can simply ignore this drawback if you usually brew coffee in a cup or using a Turk. But if you brew coffee using a geyser coffee maker or espresso machine, then you should know: in this case, you can only use homogeneously ground coffee, when all the particles of coffee beans are approximately the same size.

When choosing a blade coffee grinder, pay attention to the following:
- Method for turning on the coffee grinder. There are models for which continuous operation requires holding the “start” button all the time; other models work independently and do not require constant holding of the button.
- Coffee grinder power is not a very important parameter, but it doesn’t hurt to know that the best power for this device is 180 W. On store shelves you can see coffee grinders of various powers, on average from 100 to 200 W. The more powerful the coffee grinder, the faster it will do the job you need.

Burr coffee grinders. Features and selection options

This type of coffee grinder operates like a small mill. However, compared to the volume of a knife coffee grinder, the volume of a burr coffee grinder is very large, on average about 300 g. In a burr coffee grinder, the degree of grinding of coffee beans no longer depends on the duration of operation, but on the gap between the millstones. For this reason, burr-type coffee grinders allow you to change the degree of grinding of the coffee, there can be up to 14 grinding degrees.

There are two types of burr grinders depending on the shape of the millstones, the millstones come in the form of conical and cylindrical discs; they are all made of stainless steel. Coffee grinders with conical discs are considered the best; their disc rotation speed is lower, about 400-500 rpm, and the power is usually higher. Conical millstones last much longer; moreover, due to the low rotation speed of the disks, they do not overheat. Coffee grinders with cylindrical burrs are usually less powerful, but they have disc rotation speeds of up to 1400 rpm. “Fast” coffee grinders do the job faster, but the speed can worsen the quality of the resulting coffee: due to high friction, it can “burn” a little.

The bells and whistles of coffee grinders

The so-called bells and whistles of technology usually lead to an increase in its price, however, we must agree that some of these features are really useful. For example, there is a recess in the body for winding the cord; in principle, you can do without it, but you need to be more careful with the material of the coffee grinder body; it is better to buy a coffee grinder that is a little more expensive, but made of high-quality metal (brass, steel, aluminum). Parts of the lid or body made of plastic may crack or break, then operating the coffee grinder will be difficult or even impossible.

An important function of a coffee grinder is the ability to grind coffee in portions. This is convenient if you plan to brew coffee in a geyser coffee maker or espresso machine: you can pour as many coffee beans into the grinder as you like, at least 50, at least 100 g, but it will only grind the amount needed to make one cup of coffee, for example 5 or 7 g.

What else can you grind in a coffee grinder?

The instructions for your coffee grinder model will answer this question. Some models are capable of grinding both coffee and other products: sugar, spices, various cereals, nuts, etc. But there are also coffee grinders that can fail if you try to use them for other purposes. Some manufacturers also produce models of coffee grinders that include blender attachments: such attachments allow the coffee grinder to be used as a blender. Even if, when reading the instructions, you do not see in it a ban on using the device more widely, you still should not grind everything in the world in it, think about it, after all, the purpose of a coffee grinder is to give a unique aroma of freshly ground coffee beans, and this aroma is so easy to overwhelm with impurities smells of spices, cereals, nuts.