Can You Grind Coffee Beans in a Ninja Blender?

 

The question seems to come up a lot. In fact, I’ve covered coffee beans and blenders before in recent blog posts.

People seem to wonder if they can use a blender to grind coffee beans. Why? Well, not that many people own a coffee grinder. These items aren’t expensive, but they are not common.

So, if you happen to like fresh coffee, but don’t have a coffee grinder, you’re probably asking the question: can you grind coffee beans in your Ninja blender.

The short answer: Yes, you can grind coffee beans in a Ninja. I’ve covered this a few times because it’s such a popular topic.

But let’s take some time and go over the particulars of how you go about grinding coffee beans in a Ninja, and if you should opt to buy a stand alone coffee grinder.

Here’s a hint: Yes, you can grind coffee beans in your Ninja blender (and most high quality blenders) but if you’re looking to grind coffee beans everyday, then I’d suggest buying and using a good burr coffee grinder like this one.

What Type of Coffee Bean Grind Do You Want?

This isn’t a question of what type of coffee beans you want to grind, but instead what kind of grind you want to do.

The grind is going to be coarse. If you’re using a Ninja blender to make coffee beans, then you will end up with a coarse grind that is suitable for a French Press.

So, if you’re someone who wants to use the French Press to make your coffee, then you can use Ninja Blender.

However, if you want to make any sort of fine grind coffee beans, then you are going to want to get a burr coffee grinder (it’s important to make sure you’re getting a burr coffee grinder and not a blade style).

To review: Ninja blenders are great at making French Press style coarse coffee. They are not great at other types of coffee grind.

I happen to think that French Press coffe isn’t that healthy. So, I would suggest using drip method or pour over coffee.

How Do You Grind Coffee Beans in a Ninja?

Simple. Add the coffee beans to a dry blender and pulse them.

The important thing to note here is that you must have a dry blender. Under no circumstance should you have any liquid in the blender. Even if you don’t add liquid to the blender, you might still have a damp blender.

Any amount of dampness in the blender can make the coffee beans damp and speed up their rot.  It will just ruin your coffee beans and the ground coffee beans.

All that this means is that you’ve got to keep the blender dry. As long as the blender is kept dry, then you will be able to make good ground coffee.

But any amount of water will end up ruining the coffee. So, when you are grinding coffee beans in your Ninja blender, just make sure it’s dry.

The other tip to remember when grinding coffee beans in a Ninja blender is that you don’t want to overfill the blender.

If there are too many coffee beans in the blender, then the beans won’t grind adequately. However, if you leave too many beans in your blender than they will get gunked up.

It’s similar to when you are making nut butter. You don’t want to overfill the blender because then they gunk up and also because they take too long to blend.

The other thing I should mention is that grinding coffee beans in a blender is loud. Even if you get one of the most quiet blenders around, grinding coffee beans will be loud.

Is There a Better Way?

Well, now that you mention it, there is. Get a coffee grinder that is designed to grind coffee beans. You are never going to get as good a result using a ninja blender.

While you can use  a ninja blender to grind coffee beans, you’re only going to get a single coarse grind coffee. You won’t have any variety at all.

So what I suggest you do is get a burr style grinder. The reason that I suggest using a burr grinder is that they produce a better and more even coffee grind.

With a burr grinder you can make ground coffee for drip, pour over, French press (yes, that too) as well as all other textures.

Also, you won’t have to worry about keeping it dry and cleaning it after you make a smoothie or something else.