coffeegrinding
I usually buy prepackaged ground coffee for my drip coffee maker, but recently I accidentally bought a bag of whole bean coffee and threw away the receipt.
Can I salvage this bag of coffee without purchasing a coffee grinder?
I have seen the suggestion of using a blender or perhaps a food processor, but I don't own those either.
Are there other ways to grind these coffee beans that will provide acceptable quality?
The folks at America's Test Kitchen did a review of coffee grinders and found that the burr mills didn't result in superior consistency to blade grinders.
They found that if you stop grinding every now and then and shake the coffee grinder and grind for a total of 25-30 seconds, you get the best results.
From the video review:
"Lots of people said that these blade grinders chop the beans unevenly. They also said they heat up the beans more because of the friction and that degraded the flavor of coffee. I had dozens of people tasting this coffee and no one picked up flavor differences between the blade-ground and the burr-ground. There were differences in the body but not the flavor... and we found a way to use the blade grinders to match that body.
From the text review:
"We found we could improve the evenness of the blade grind either by grinding in short, quick bursts, with stops in between to shake the grinder to redistribute the grounds, or by shaking the grinder as it ground, much as you would a martini in a cocktail shaker."
Their favorite was the Capresso Cool Grind, Model 501.
They did note that you will need a burr grinder for espresso.
You do want a coarse grind for french press coffee. The key is letting the coffee steep for long enough to make a strong brew. I have good results with a 5 minute steep time. Be sure to use a timer, and compare different times to find the optimal brew. As a general rule, if you are at altitude, then you need to add time because boiling water is cooler. (Note that I am at 5000ft, so 5 minutes may be too long for you.)
Below is a picture of the coffee chunks in a coarse grind on top of a US 5 cent coin (21.21 mm in diameter).
The picture is from this article.
EDIT: The reason to use a coarse grind for a french press is that finer grinds will get stuck in the filter and/or push their way through. This has three potential problems: 1) it will be harder to press down the filter, possibly leading to spillage or breakage; 2) your coffee will have grinds in it; 3) the coffee may become bitter, as the finer grinds that passed through the filter remain in contact with the coffee for too long.
Best Answer
In my opinion, the best option is to have someone grind them for you. Ask your friends--someone may have a grinder you can borrow, or would be happy to grind them for you in exchange for some cookies or part of the bag of coffee.
If you have a local coffee shop, talk to the barista (over the latte' you just bought) and ask if he/she will grind your beans for you. I've heard even the mighty Starbucks will grind your beans for you if you ask nicely enough.
If you want to do it yourself, you need to find a way to get the beans down to grinds. Some ideas:
Mortar and pestle. Be careful not to make Turkish coffee powder instead of the more chunky grinds you want.
Rolling pin. Put the beans in a heavy Ziploc bag or similar, and have a go at them. Roll, whack, smash.
Have a nice, heavy frying pan? Ziploc bag again, hammer away.
And speaking of hammers...
No, not that Hammer. This hammer.