We've all been there: you're following a recipe to the letter and it tells you to add a pinch of freshly-ground spice. You have a whole pantry of store-bought spices ready to go but suddenly it's imperative that your nutmeg is ground on the spot. You're not Martha Stewart and you don't have a mill on hand, and suddenly that disused coffee grinder is winking at you from the other end of the kitchen.
If you're looking at your grinder wondering if you can use it for those spices, technically, you can. However, you probably shouldn't, because the oils in herbs, spices, and coffee can cross-contaminate and make your coffee taste like curry and curry taste like coffee.
After speaking to chefs and coffee experts, here's everything you need to know about using a coffee grinder to grind spices.
Can you use a coffee grinder to grind spices?
You can, but you probably shouldn't. Technically, you can use a coffee grinder to grind spices. The typical spice grinder is a blade grinder, like just lots of coffee grinders. The fundamental mechanic (a fast metal blade chopping ingredients to dust) is exactly the same. If you need spices every so often, a coffee grinder is fine. If you don't like to drink coffee but want something cheap to blitz spices, a coffee grinder is fine.
However, if you're a coffee obsessive, you shouldn't grind spices in your coffee grinder. Lots of the baristas I spoke to were utterly scandalised by the suggestion. Tim Hopfinger Lee, former barista and coffee machine expert, said that it's a 'big no'. He told me that when he tried to used a coffee grinder for his spices, he found that his grinders were best suited for coffee beans, and larger or smaller spices didn't quite work. What's more, he found that 'even when I cleaned the grinder really well, I could still taste a bit of the spices in my coffee'. If you're obsessed with chasing the perfect shot of espresso, you shouldn't grind spices in the came grinder you use for your coffee.
For a top-line spice grinder, try this from Cuisinart. Not only can it handle spices, but it can also tackle larger ingredients like nuts, perfect for baking with almonds or pistachios.
For something more cost-effective, the Hermolante Herb Girinder has hundreds of positive reviews and comes in at under $20.
This wood-effect spice grinder is a good choice if you have a more traditional kitchen, and want a less utilitarian spice grinder.
Is it worth buying a specialist spice grinder?
Lauren Winder Hoar, barista and coffee writer, gave me a really useful golden rule. 'If you're not a professional chef or avid home cook, you can probably get away with subbing in your coffee grinder for spices once in a while. If you grind fresh spices more often than you drink fresh-ground coffee, get a separate spice grinder'.
I recommend buying a spice grinder if you cook a lot of curry from scratch. Lauren explained that the oils in coffee can continue your spices and vice-versa. She points out that ' if you're grinding spices to go with your coffee like cinnamon or nutmeg, You probably won't mind any residual cross-flavors'. However, she says that 'coffee grinders retain residual coffee flavor, even after cleaning', which might affect your food. If you don't want your daal to taste like cappuccino, and if you don't want your morning espresso to taste like a saag aloo, I'd buy a separate spice grinder.
Quiet, calm, and exceptional, this is our favorite ever coffee grinder. It's near-perfect, if a little expensive.
For precise control over your grinds, try our favorite manual grinder. It offers a huge range of different grinds, and as it's hand-powered, it's very responsive.
If you want something good on a budget, this is the best we've found under $50. It's not perfect, but it performs like it should cost a lot more.
Which spices do you need to grind?
Almost every spice tastes better if it's been whizzed in a spice grinder, but chef Jessica Randhawa told me that they particularly excel with whole spices like like peppercorns, coriander seeds, and dried chilies'.
Nutmeg also tastes at its best when freshly-ground. That's crucial for holiday dishes, but it's also useful throughout the year when cooking south Asian food, and it's a vital ingredient in Caribbean cooking.
Cinnamon is also best when it's ground. Whole cinnamon sticks look great in a mug or as decoration but can be overpowering in that form. If you grind it down, you have precise control over how much cinnamon you add to a dish.
Chef Dennies Littley told me that 'cumin is at its most flavoursome when finely crushed and toasted, delivering a distinctly nutty aftertaste'.
You can also grind spices all in one go. If you know you need a set mix of spices, you can whizz them all together and save the labor of grinding them one-by-one.
What else can I used to grind spices?
In some situations, a mortar and pestle is a much better option for grinding your spices. It's nowhere near as fast as a dedicated spice or coffee grinder, but crushing certain spices and berries releases fragrant oils which won't be released if they're chopped up in a coffee grinder. Kayla Stravidis, coffee expert, told me that 'a traditional mortar and pestle is a great alternative. It allows you to grind spices without the risk of affecting the flavor of your coffee'. However, while a mortar and pestle offers 'more control over the texture', it 'requires more effort'.
Apart from aesthetics, you don't need anything fancy for a mortar and pestle. They're very straightforward tools, so an inexpensive porcelain set like this will more than do the job.
This mortar and pestle has an interesting design I've not seen before. The pestle is almost as big as the mortar, massively increasing the surface area and making it much more efficient. Word to the wise, however - 'walnut' refers to the color of the wood; the wood is actually acacia.
If you cook a lot of Mexican or Central American cuisine, you need a molcajete like this. Made from volcanic basalt, the traditional rough stone is perfect for grinding up spices.
Spice grinding FAQs
Can you grind spice in a food processor?
You can, but it doesn't do as good a job as a coffee grinder. The blade in a food processor is flatter, wider, and slower than that in a spice grinder, so the resulting grind is less fine.
Can you grind spice in a blender?
You can just about grind spices in a blender, but it will be a poor grind. Blender blades are designed for liquids, so anything ground in a blender will be very roughly chopped.
