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.

[LiberalEsto]

1. Maybe put them in a paper bag

and run a rolling pin over them for a while?

[IrishAyes]

2. Good idea, except I think they're too hard for a rolling pin to make much difference.

Thanks, though. I thought about a metal meat tenderizer, but I don't have one of those either since I seldom eat meat. But I'm a coffee fiend! These were given to me by someone else who doesn't have a grinder either.

[IrishAyes]

7. I owe you an apology. My idea that the beans would be too hard for a rolling pin was false.

http://www.wikihow.com/Grind-Coffee-Beans-Without-a-Grinder

link courtesy of another kind responder.

[cbayer]

3. Take them to a grocery store and ask to use their grinder?

Better yet, just buy a grinder. You can get an electric one very cheap and a hand crank for practically nothing.

Then you might start grinding beans all the time which is, imo, the only way to make coffee.

[IrishAyes]

5. Great suggestions that I'm not in a financial position to implement, sorry. Where I retired to a

remote tiny town in the Midwest, most people here probably haven't even heard of a coffee grinder. I bet they'd think it grows in powdered form somehow. None of the little stores here carry anything like a grinder. They don't sell coffee beans either. I could order online except for that pesky $ thing. You're right, even roasting and grinding your own beans at home is best, when possible.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I would not simmer then overnight.

I do not think that they would damage your blender. My grinder looks just like a blender except that the blades are not so far down in a container.

If I had to try to use beans and didn't have my grinder, I would use the blender to grind them all the way. Made sure that the beans have not been stored in the refrigerator before you grind them....I keep mine in the fridge and there is a dampness to them that makes the ground beans stick all over the grinder. It is easy to scrape out, but that would not be the case in a blender. If the powdered grounds stick, you might have to remove the bottom of the blender container to remove some of it.

Good luck. I don't know how well it would work, but that is my bet.

[IrishAyes]

6. Thanks. If I can grind the beans fine in the blender, I wouldn't need to throw them in the crockpot

Love my electric percolator, though. Just hate drip machines. And I sure didn't know about the refrigerator problem. Thanks - these have been stored room temperature.

[Skidmore]

8. Six ways to grind coffee beans without a grinder.

http://www.wikihow.com/Grind-Coffee-Beans-Without-a-Grinder