When you love coffee, it’s easy to get really nerded out on getting the best brewing equipment, but when you’re first starting out or traveling or visiting non-coffee friends, then you might be asking yourself, “Can you grind coffee beans in a food processor.
Use The Tools That You Have
Here’s what I’ve learned about making great coffee. You don’t need professional quality equipment to make good coffee. In fact the cheapest way to make coffee makes some of the best coffee that I’ve ever had. For instance cold-brew, which makes the smoothest coffee in the world.
I could put fresh roasted beans in a ZipLoc bag and use a hammer to grind the beans, toss the grounds into a Mason jar, add water, and in a few hours be drinking the smoothest coffee you can imagine.
Hells-Bells, a food processor has to be better than a plastic bag and a hammer! And if you don’t have a food processor, you could use a blender, or smashing the beans between two rocks. Heck, you can even use your hands. Fresh roasted beans are easily ground between your thumb and forefinger.
Can You Grind Coffee Beans In A Food Processor?
The simple answer is “yes”, you can grind coffee beans in a food processor.
In this article, I’m going tell you exactly how to do it right. But first, let me ask, why you would want to use a food processor for grinding coffee beans?
I can think of several reasons why you’d want to grind coffee beans with a food processor. First, you may be new to making coffee and don’t yet own a decent grinder. Secondly, you may be traveling or visiting family or friends.
Fine or Coarse Ground Coffee Beans
Let’s start by deciding how fine or coarse you want your coffee grounds. To determine that, we need to know how you’re going to brew your coffee. Here are a few tips.
- Any drip system, machine or hand = Medium Ground
- French Press = Medium Ground
- Espresso Machine = Fine Ground
- Aeropress = Medium/Fine Ground
- Cold Brew = Coarse Ground
- Moka Pot = Fine Ground
In general, the finer the grounds the more bold and bitter the coffee. Conversely, the courser the grind, the smoother the coffee, but the taste isn’t as strong. Click this link for more details on how to grind coffee beans.
How to Grind Coffee Beans In A Food Processor
The down side to using a food processor to grind beans is that you inevitably end up with 90% of the grind that you’re trying to get and 10% of the grind that you don’t want. In other words, you get a mixture of coarse, medium, and fine grounds all at the same time. Honestly, the same is true if you used a blender or even a blade coffee grinder.
I find that putting 1 cup of beans into the food processor works well. That being said, 2 cups of fresh roasted beans works even better, but if you’re really a coffee nerd, you’ll want to grind only the amount that you’re going to use in the next 5 minutes. If you want to grind enough coffee to last you for a week, you’ll want the best way to preserve these grounds so that a week later, your last cup tastes almost as good as the first cup. If you want to learn exactly how to be preserve your fresh roasted coffee beans, then read THIS article.
I have found that the pulse setting works best for me. That way I can visually inspect the grinds after every few seconds of grinding. One cup of coffee beans takes me about 2-3 minutes of grinding with a food processor.
Grinding Dark Roasted Coffee Beans
Dark roasted coffee beans are very brittle and thus very easy to grind, regardless of the method that you’re using. Although dark roasted beans are very popular, tasting burnt and bitter, they are also the most common and most liked by most Americans.
The down side of dark roasted coffee is that the oils have been roasted out of the bean, leaving the bean with very little caffeine or taste. The upside for the coffee companies that burn the snot out of their beans is that the shelf life is years.
If you’re a dark roast lover, then grinding these beans will be easy in a food processor.
Grinding Medium Roasted Coffee Beans
Here’s a truth about coffee roasting. The lighter colored the bean, the more oils are within that bean. It’s these oils that contain all the bioflavonoids, antioxidants, caffeine, and flavor.
My personal favorite are medium roasted whole bean coffee. Frankly, the taste is far more complex, subtle, and vibrant than any other roast. Not only does medium roasted coffee taste better, but it’s also better for you.
I just ground some fresh roasted medium using my food processor and it took a full minute of holding down that pulse button. It was exhausting, but now I don’t have to go to the gym today.
Grinding White Coffee Beans
Many of you may have never heard of white coffee. White coffee is simply a very light roast of the same beans as any other roast.
The color of white coffee can range from yellow to golden. The taste is weird, in that it doesn’t taste like coffee at all. It tastes more like grassy or nutty tea. Yet, it has almost double the caffeine as a dark roast.
When grinding white coffee, keep in mind that these white beans are hard as a rock. They’re so hard that they will burn out a blade coffee grinder quicker than you can say “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. For fear of burning up my food processor, I wouldn’t even experiment grinding white roasted beans for this article.
Best Coffee Grinders
If you’re looking for a coffee grinder, I highly suggest a burr grinder. They come in two types; flat plate burr and conical burr. Experts argue that conical is better, but I have both and they’ve each served me very well for over a decade. That last sentence hints toward an important point. Key in on the word “decade”. If my grinder has lasted for a decade of daily use, then by all means you should consider buying a used burr grinder.
You do not need the best. Burr grinders run $60 – $400. Keep in mind that professional coffee equipment, the expensive stuff, is not made to do the best job. Professional equipment, simply means that they’ll do an OK job for a very long time. Go to this link: “Brewing Equipment Recommendations”.
Lake City Coffee
Alisha, my wife, and I started Lake City Coffee for the purpose of providing the freshest and smoothest roasted whole bean coffee that you’re likely to find anywhere.
We’re focused on teaching our customers how to make an awesome cup of coffee.
Thanks for checking us out.
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