Can You Use a Blender to Grind Coffee Beans?

 

If you love to make coffee at home, then at some point you’re going to want to grind your own coffee beans. You get fresher coffee, and it’s cheaper than having coffee ground at a gourmet coffee supply boutique.

You can find great organic coffee beans everywhere now: BJs, Costco and even supermarkets will sell good quality, organic whole coffee beans in a variety of roasts.

But do you need to buy a separate coffee grinder to grind coffee beans?

Well, it depends on what your current situation is. If you don’t have a blender, then you will need to buy a coffee grinder. You can’t use a food processor to grind coffee beans, just as you can’t use a food processor to make smoothies.

But can you use a blender to grind coffee beans? Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll discuss in the following sections.

 

Which Blender Do You Own?

If you do want to grind coffee beans, it will be best to own a coffee bean grinder. However, if you only own a blender then you can still grind fresh coffee.

However, how well your blender grinds coffee beans depends on the blender. Some blenders grind better than others.

While you might think that a large Ninja blender is good for grinding coffee beans, it actually isn’t the best.

What works best at grinding coffee beans are bullet style blenders. These are normally not ranked as the best blenders for green smoothies, but if you’re making ground coffee beans then these are going to be your best choice.

I wrote a recent article on if you could use a ninja blender to grind coffee beans,  but the takeaway is that they aren’t ideal.

 

Some Blenders Grind Coffee Beans Better Than Others

Unfortunately it’s not a case of just buying whole coffee beans and hoping that your blender can handle it. Like we’ve briefly discussed above, some blenders aren’t that good at grinding coffee beans.

For instance, I wrote a piece on whether or not you could use a ninja blender to grind coffee beans.

The takeaway from that article is that no, it’s not really something you’re going to want to at try.

A nutribullet style blender, on the other hand, does perform pretty well. I’ve used a nutribullet to grind coffee beans and it does a really excellent job

The nutribullet can turn whole coffee beans right into ground coffee, even to the point of a fine espresso style grind.

Now, I would say that if you already own a ninja blender or a vitamix, then I wouldn’t go out and buy a nutribullet blender just to grind coffee beans. There are much better methods of that.

What I would suggest you use is a real burr coffee grinder to grind coffee. They are smaller, in most cases than large blenders, and they are actually designed to grind coffee beans.

Most people who buy organic coffee are going to end up buying whole coffee beans, so it makes perfect sense to

 

Drip, French Press, or Pour Over Coffee

The type of grind you’re looking for also depends on what type of coffee you want to make. I like to make drip coffee, other people prefer other types of coffee.

I don’t think that drinking French press coffee is the best thing as far as health is concerned. There are serious health concerns regarding French press coffee.

If you’re going to make good coffee at home, I suggest a decent drip coffee machine or a pour over method with paper filter.

However, more to the point. The type of bean you use and the grind is what determines the blender.

If you’re making French press where you can use a coarse grind, then most blenders will suffice. If however, you’re making any sort of other coffee then you’re going to need to use a more suitable blender such as a bullet style.

 

 

Bullet Blenders vs Ninja Blenders for Grinding Coffee

When it comes right down to it, bullet style blenders are simply superior to griding coffee than large jar sized blenders.

If you already have a bullet style blender, you can use that to grind coffee. If you have a Ninja blender, I would advise you just get a stand along coffee grinder.

A good coffee grinder will be the best option. Here’s an example of the type of coffe grinder that I would suggest.