(X-Post) What to do with coffee beans when you don't have a grinder?

[IrishAyes]

I'm wondering whether it would damage my blender to at least try to chop them up a little, then let them simmer in water in the crockpot overnight.

[cbayer]

1. But a grinder? They are cheap and you could probably get one for less than

a dollar at most garage sales.

Grinding your own beans is the only way to go, imo. It makes a big difference.

(Also answered your cross post).

[IrishAyes]

4. Yes, thank you from the bottom of my caffein-addicted heart. But somebody in town would have to

have bought a grinder or received one as a gift before they could put it in a yard sale. Although this is the county seat, the town has fewer people than my last high school did. And they're xenophobic as geese. Took me 8 years of relentless charm offensive to gain a tenuous toe hold on the social perimeter, though I was often easily elected to grass roots level elective office in many other places that I lived. So I'm not a monster or socially awkward - unless it's a teabagger doing the assessing.

[cbayer]

6. What no starbucks, lol!!!

Don't you love those little towns. While lacking in some things, they have a charm that is hard to beat.

I'm in Mexico right now and am continually surprised by what I can and can't get.

Maybe someone has an old fashioned hand grinder that they used for spices or grains or nuts in the past?

Anyway, best of luck to you. Enjoy yourself and try to embrace what's wonderful about these places as you adapt to what is not.

[IrishAyes]

8. Good advice about small town living.

I grew up as an Army brat, married a career military man, and lived in places like NYC and Los Angeles in addition to more remote areas. I knew coming in that this place would be a tough nut to crack, but if my expectations had been at all realistic, I'd have found a way not to do it. Now I'm pretty much stuck here, although that in itself can have a good side because I know I'll never move and they'll never change; the only option left is to try to kill 'em with love since the law won't let me use faster methods.

[cbayer]

11. I know the feeling.

I grew up as a minister's kid and we also moved a lot.

The up side is definitely that I can rapidly adapt to new environments and have learned to find and appreciate what is good about each new place. It rapidly became apparent that wishing I was somewhere else proved useless at best.

Even if you are politically distant from them, there may be things you have in common - like a love of coffee or new and innovative ways to make due when you don't have the right implements!

[IrishAyes]

13. It may seem odd, but I have reason to wonder if some at least have developed a degree of admiration

for the fact that they can't make me run. Even when I joke back that I'd have to take up a freewill collection in order to do so. They think everyone to the left of Lyndon Larouche (although they've never heard of him either) is a commie for sure. And they check under their bed for those every night. After 8 years, though, I think I'm wearing them out if not over.

And I have to admit that recent scholarly articles about the ultra conservative mindset and how it came to be that way has done a little to soften my heart. They are really to be pitied sometimes because even the dimmest knows their time has come and gone. They're terrified, confused, and furious at whatfir they consider betrayal by those GD libruls. So I should probably count it a blessing if not victory that no cross has been burned in my yard - not yet, anyway.

Heehee - when I put up a political sign in my yard, I put it well away from the house and plaster it with flags, hoping to discourage the gunfire I was told to expect.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

26. First, do you own a mortar and pestle?

I have ground coffee beans using one. More trouble than it's worth over the long run, but it can be done. I believe that your blender should handle coffee beans OK.

My father was an engineer, and we moved around a lot in the 1950s. Until high school, I never spent more than two years in the same school.

Lyndon Larouche, now there is a name to conjure with.

[IrishAyes]

27. Unfortunately, no... I don't have a mortar and pestle. Never saw one in this area's minimal

shops. Some of the stuff I thought I had in the Penske when I moved here disappeared between the time I packed and unpacked.

More unfortunately, it was not atypical when a 30-something guy here bragged to me that his girlfriend had almost made it through 11th grade. Not that he made it anywhere near that far, but he still declared himself an exceptional intellectual. There's absolutely no end to the amount of crap in people's 'brains' around here. But that's how they grew up, and since they don't see where it hurt them a bit, they totally believe there's nothing else of value to know that they don't already. They will tell you, for instance, with the straightest face in the world that the bread you might feed your dog will literally transform itself into worms.

Here's perhaps the saddest consequence of their xenophobia: a mother (whose husband was the banker) bragged to me about how her daughter turned tail and ran back home when she was sent to college in Chicago. They're rich enough that I could easily believe the setup described: a lakeside apartment in a prime building with a doorman etc. But the daughter 'realized' where she belonged and quickly fled home. The world on a platter at her feet, and the pitiful creature turned up her nose at it. Now, with what passes here for a high school diploma, she's the bank's senior officer since her parents retired. Who needs book larnin' anyhow? They already know that the outside world is evil and to be sampled at their own peril.

No, I'd almost bet my life that half these folks wouldn't know what a mortar and pestle is for, at least in the kitchen. If they don't already (think they) know something, they certainly don't need to. Direct quote there, pal.

[raven mad]

2. It won't hurt the beans - but it may the blender.

Use a mortar/pestle approach. Smash 'em up by hand. I have done so at campsites - and it's still decent coffee!

[IrishAyes]

3. Thanks - excellent idea except I don't have a mortar and pestle either.

Apparently many folks with great suggestions labor under the misimpression that I live in a civilized area, which is far from the case. I retired here 8 years ago because of 2 major reasons: cost of living and it's 850 above sea level. I can't swim.

[TygrBright]

5. Got a hammer?

Clean it up good, put the beans in a flat layer on a sturdy surface you can clean well and easily. Lay a clean cloth you can wash over them and start whacking.

Actually, a hammer might not be the best surface because it's a bit small. But it does have to be something you can wash-- oils may come through the cloth, or if it's not very sturdy cloth the beans may poke through. Ideally, a broad, blunt, heavy, easily manipulated item.

The idea is to mash, not to chop.

helpfully,
Bright

[IrishAyes]

7. Yes, you are helpful.

I guess I could've followed the same advice I give others when I'm mad at them - "look it up yourself on the internet!" - but after apologizing for my laziness, I must say this has been a fun run for me. Guess I was feeling a little lonesome this evening. Everyone's been very kind.

[TygrBright]

9. This is a community.

That's one of the things we do.

Also, drive each other up the wall.

But it evens out, if we're lucky.

amiably,
Bright

[raven mad]

12. Um. I'm interior Alaska in a cabin.

A mortar and pestle is as easy as the cap from any place, and the palm of your hand. I live a lot of your life, only simpler.

[IrishAyes]

14. You must really be tough to use a cap and the palm of your hand to crush coffee beans!

I'm just a little old lady! Have a heart.

[raven mad]

16. I'm probably as old (or older). No, a lifetime of making do!

Seriously, a bowl, a spoon and some oooomph does it!

[IrishAyes]

20. Well, I admire the pioneer spirit it must take to live as you do. I've lived off grid, but never

anywhere so wild and remote as Alaska. That would really separate the kids from the adults.

[raven mad]

22. I have running water.

I'm happy!

[IrishAyes]

23. I once had running water at a Maine cabin, too.

It ran in the creek down the hill.

[cbayer]

10. How about chocolate covered coffee beans?

I'm a big fan but have never made them at home.

It looks like it's real simple though.

You have to be careful not to overindulge though, are you could end up on the ceiling, lol.

[Lucinda]

25. You beat me to it!

Love them.

[grasswire]

15. beat them with your cast iron skillet

lay them out in a flat layer on the table, and use the heavy skillet.

[raven mad]

17. There is nothing in this world a good cast iron skillet can't cure.

[IrishAyes]

19. Must agree. I love 'em, and nobody challenges me with one in my hand.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

28. Gosh, you have what amounts to an iron club in your, and people take it seriously.

Can't imagine why.

[IrishAyes]

29. It makes most people laugh. For some reason. They know my gallows humor, and I know theirs.

But I know, nothing like an iron skillet if you can't find anything else...

[IrishAyes]

18. Well, my kitchen table spends winter hosting my outdoor potted plants - BUT I do have several iron

skillets, and never would've thought of using them, although I certainly shall now. I thought iron skillets were only for cooking and self defense.

[grasswire]

21. I have seen chefs do this with peppercorns.

High-dollar TV celebrity chefs.

Good luck!

[Major Nikon]

24. It won't hurt your blender

Those cheap whirlybird grinders work exactly like a blender.

Whatever you do, don't cook it in your crockpot overnight. The coffee will be dog awful. Just grind in the blender and brew as you would normally.

[spinbaby]

30. I agree

I put coffee beans in the blender all the time. No need for a separate coffee grinder when you have a multi-tasker like a blender on hand.

[TreasonousBastard]

31. The blender will work just fine, as will a food processor...

but both might not chop up the beans evenly.

For an even less even grinding, try two pieces of baking parchment (it won't absorb the oils) and a sturdy rolling pin. Or mallet. Or even that skillet. Wax paper might work, but paper towels will just make a mess.

[MADem]

33. I agree with Major Nikon's advice completely. If you look at a grinder, they've

got a lousy little blade in them that is very similar to a blender blade.

And brew it fresh right after grinding...fresh is best!

[Major Nikon]

34. Blade grinders are not really grinders at all

I use the term grinder with them because that's what most people understand and the result to the naked eye is the same, but what's really happening is quite different. The high speed of the blades smash into the beans and pulverize them rather like smashing them with a hammer. A real grinder processes the beans through two plates, with at least one (but generally both) having grinding blades cut into the plate. One of the plates rotates slicing particles off the beans. At the microscopic level what happens is quite different. Blade grinders produce grinds that are much less consistent in size and shape. This means that the small particles will extract faster than the larger particles and the result will be both underextraction and overextraction, neither of which is good.

I always say any grinder is better than no grinder because you are exactly correct, fresh ground is best. However a real grinder will take it to the next level, especially if you are fine tuning the extraction method, duration, and water temperature.

[MADem]

35. I'm guessing that getting the beans "smooshed" sufficiently to make a cuppa is

the goal here--I know my blender (it's a cheap one, too) can do the job...I've used it when the bean grinder went walkabout, once!

Are the "grinders" of which you speak expensive?

I have a couple of actual "grinders" as well--they're old as the hills (as in more than a hundred years old), and they crank by hand. You put the beans in the top, and turn the handle, and they come out ground in a drawer in the bottom. I think the blender does a better job, as the hand cranker doesn't grind fine enough to suit me, but the cheap little ear-piercing blade 'grinder' works best of what's available in my abode.

[Major Nikon]

36. Actually some of the old hand grinders are quite nice

But age takes a toll on them. Most aren't worth anything because you can't find parts to refurbish them, but for some you can. For a long time it was just about impossible to find a good hand grinder unless you refurbished one of the old ones and the price to do so wasn't all that shy of buying a good motorized grinder. However, now there's some really good hand grinders on the market that are pretty cheap. The one I have is made by Kyocera and is no longer made, but they now have an updated model which appears to be even better. If you ever decide you want a motorized grinder, you can always use it as a spice grinder. It uses ceramic burrs and is made to last for many years. I've had mine for several years and it still works like new.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-CM-50-CF-Ceramic-Grinder/dp/B003S9XF7K

There's a lot of cheap motorized grinders on the market, but I don't recommend them because they just don't grind that consistently. To get a good one on the new market you are generally talking north of $100 or so. My motorized grinder sells for north of $1,000 on the new market. I bought it for $250 and refurbished it myself.

[MADem]

37. That Kyocera thing looks nice!!!!

Certainly more affordable than "north of a hundred!" Or more!

Thanks for putting me on to that--if I ever decide to splurge, that's what I'm getting.

[Major Nikon]

38. I love mine

I travel with it along with my Aeropress and I also use both at the office. All I need is a source of hot water and I can have great coffee wherever I am, even when camping. I already have two of the Aeropress and I think I'll buy another Kyocera grinder just because I like it so much and it would be handy to have two so I can leave one at work all the time.

[MADem]

39. I have been using a cone filter for close to forty years now.

Cheap-n-easy!

I have noticed those aeropress things are gaining in popularity these days!

[Major Nikon]

40. I have a few various types of cone filter holders

So I'm still using those as well.

[MADem]

41. So do I--I have one I bought in Japan back in the early eighties.

It's ceramic, and with time a chunk off the bottom "stand" of the thing got broken, but it still works so I continue to use it (notoriously cheap). I have a larger ceramic one for when company comes over and I need to make a bigger amount than usual! I have Melitta ones up at the vacation shack.

[Retrograde]

32. During the US Civil War, soldiers would smash the beans with their rifle butts

A hammer, mallet or cast-iron skillet would work just as well.

If you have a lot of beans, a cheap coffee grinder costs less than $20 and doesn't make as big a mess as smashing them by hand. Or you can simmer the whole beans and strain the liquid. Since I can't begin to even think about making coffee before my second cup, though, I'm not the best person to consult on the matter