You can consistently repeat the same level of coffee quality with a burr grinder’s dependable and practical production of uniformly sized coffee grounds.
Whole-bean coffee should be ground just before brewing to maintain freshness, avoid exposure to flavor-destroying air, and prevent the coffee’s natural characteristics from becoming boring and stale. What if you don’t own a grinder, though?
Is it possible to grind coffee beans in a food processor?
The answer is that you can use the food processor’s blades to grind coffee beans. You can use a food processor to get a consistent grind size with a few tricks and careful techniques. However, the grind size gets smaller as you grind the coffee beans longer, which can make the brewing procedure more difficult.
Matching your brewing method
Using a food processor to grind beans for a French press is ideal. Relative to a regular coffee grinder, the results will be coarse. This method benefits you because the French press functions better with coarse grinds.
Amount and timing
Add two tablespoons of beans to the processor’s work bowl for every 6- 8 ounce cup of coffee you intend to prepare. To ensure the beans are as fresh as possible, grind them before brewing.
Processing
On the food processor, look for the “Pulse” and “Chop” buttons or the nearly similar “Low” and “High” speed buttons. Five times, pulse the food processor or click the “Low” button for two seconds each time.
The processor’s feet can be softly tapped on your work area or gently rocked such that bits at the top of the bowl sink near the blades. For 30 to 45 seconds, press the chop or “High” button while closely monitoring the texture of the beans in the container by looking through its sides.
You are done when they resemble huge granules 1/8 inch across, with some smoother particles but not quite powdery. A further pulse that would produce a fine powder should be avoided.
Removing the ground coffee
Tap the processor cover to get most of the flyaway grounds out. Remove the cover and put it to the side. Raise the work bowl away from the motor base by twisting it. Shake most ground beans from the work bowl into the French press carafe.
How to grind different sizes of coffee grounds in a food processor
The grind size gets finer the longer you prepare coffee beans in a food processor. Here’s how to get the different grind sizes:
- Coarser grind size: Minimal coffee beans should be added to the machine and ground for no longer than two seconds. When grinding coffee, jostle the machine to force the beans toward the blades. Due to the steeping method of a French press or percolator coffee maker, which allows for more time for interaction between the coarse grounds and water, a coarse grind size is ideal for these devices.
- Medium-coarse grind size: Following every 1-2 seconds of grinding, sift the grounds through a normal sieve and paper towel to remove the particles. Because Chemex has an extended brew time and pour-over and drips coffee machines that use mesh filters, medium-coarse grounds are ideal for Chemex coffee.
- Fine grind size: Longer grinding followed by fine sieving is required here. The coarse grounds should be reground until they all pass through the sieve. Moka pots and espresso machines both benefit from fine grind sizes. Nevertheless, you risk spoiling your espresso if the grounds are too fine.
Conclusion
The easiest approach to achieve a consistent coffee grind size is with a burr grinder. Nevertheless, if you own a food processor, you shouldn’t let the lack of a coffee grinder prevent you from brewing coffee. Blade grinders, such as food processors, can produce a consistent grind size with a few tricks.
Be sure to pay attention to how long the food processor is running when grinding coffee beans; the longer it runs, the finer the ground coffee will be.
You can regulate the grinding phase and reduce waste if something goes wrong by grinding a few coffee beans at once.
Jay Kang
As a professional barista, it was more important for me to know the ins and out of what coffee means. So, I started this journey to unlock the appreciation and the love of coffee on my site.