Can you regrind coffee?
In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “can you regrind coffee” with an in-depth analysis of whether or not you can regrind coffee. Moreover, we are going to discuss different ways to regrind coffee and suitable types of coffee grind for different coffee making techniques.
Can you regrind coffee?
Yes, you can regrind your coffee if you feel like the ground coffee is coarser or you want to have finer coffee particles.
Different ways that you can use to regrind coffee
There are different ways that you can use to regrind your coffee. Some of them are discussed here.
Using a coffee grinder
There are two main types of coffee grinders: blade grinders and burr grinders.
Blade grinders:
A blade grinder is essentially just a small blender. It has a set of little rotating blades which chop in circles; if there happens to be a coffee bean in the way then it gets sliced. While this method will certainly bust up your beans, it chops them up fairly randomly and often results in a very inconsistent grind. You can get very fine particles mixed with large lumps of beans.
Burr grinders:
A burr grinder will crush your beans through burrs. When bits of bean have been crushed down sufficiently small that they can’t be crushed anymore, they fall through the burrs. You end up with a pile of coffee grounds of a very similar size. A burr grinder provides the best grind for your coffee beans by far.
Mortar and pestle
Take small amounts of coffee beans at a time. When the beans crush, they can burst into little fragments. You should use one hand to cover the mortar so you’re both holding it in place and stopping small pieces of bean from escaping.
- Drop a few spoonfuls of coffee beans into your mortar. Do not fill it very high. Just one layer of beans will be easiest to grind.
- Crush the beans with the pestle with a strong twisting motion. Make sure to cover over the mortar with your other hand so bean pieces don’t explode away.
- Once each bean has been crushed at least a little; press and roll the pestle around the inside of the mortar.
- When the beans are ground to your liking, sit the grounds to the side, and repeat on the next little lot of beans for the batch.
Food processor
A food processor is a big blade grinder. While blade grinders are not as good as burr grinders; they still get the job done.
- The trick with using a blade grinder, or a food processor, is to pulse the beans. If you were just to turn it on you would get either an overly fine grind or a very inconsistent grind. Pulsing the beans does give you a better grind and stops it from getting too fine.
- Listen to beans as you pulse them. They will go from a particularly gritty sound to a bit more of a sandy sound. Tip the food processor from side to side making sure the blades are going through the beans. Keep checking on them to make sure there are no particularly large bits of beans still to be chopped up.
- For even more control over your grind, It is recommended to process the beans in small batches. That way if some beans accidentally get ground up too fine, you can get other small batches that are more of the grind size you want.
A Blender
- Similar to using a food processor; a blender is very similar to a large coffee bean blade grinder. Again, the trick here is to use a pulse technique.
- Because blenders tend to be more of a conical shape than food processors, you might find a blender more appropriate than a food processor. You absolutely must keep the lid on as you pulse the coffee beans.
- Pulse the beans, maybe tip the blender a little to make sure the blade goes through the beans.
A Rolling Pin
Similar to crushing coffee beans with the side of a knife, using a rolling pin to crush your beans can be very effective.
Like with the knife method; place your beans in a plastic bag. There is less need to wrap the bag in a kitchen towel but it’ll certainly lend more protection to the plastic.
For best results, only grind up small amounts of beans at a time; it gives you more control over your grind.
Things required:
- A rolling pin.
- A wide chopping board.
- A freezer bag large enough for all your coffee beans.
- A kitchen towel to wrap around the freezer bag.
Method:
- Drop your beans into the plastic bag.
- Wrap the kitchen towel around the bean bag.
- Lay the towel and bag on your chopping board.
- Initially, press the rolling pin into the beans to crush them.
- Once each bean is crushed; roll the beans. As you roll your beans, keep lifting the kitchen towel and how fine the grind is becoming.
What are the suitable coffee grinds for different coffees?
Each brewing method requires a different coffee grind. Typically, the longer your grounds are stewing in the water, the coarser your grind should be.
| Cold brew | Very coarse grind |
| French press | Coarse grind |
| Drip machine or pour over | Medium grind |
| Espresso | Fine grind |
| Turkish pot | Very fine grind |
Other FAQs about Coffee that you may be interested in.
Conclusion:
In this brief guide, we answered the question “can you regrind coffee” with an in-depth analysis of whether or not you can regrind coffee. Moreover, we discussed different ways to regrind coffee and suitable types of coffee grind for different coffee making techniques.
