Bill wrote:

>
>
> I keep my (coffee) beans frozen and grind them in my blade grinder for
> 10-15 seconds. I actually do it by sound as you can hear when the
> blades are no longer hitting larger particles. I keep the beans frozen
> both because we live a long way from where we can get beans (and so buy
> in bulk) and because I have found the blade grinder does a better job on
> the frozen beans. I am curious if anyone has any comments about the
> practice of freezing..



Brings back memories of me and the SO day tripping to Pittsburgh to get
freshly roasted bean at Nicholas Coffee. We would keep the main stash in
tightly sealed jars and the daily bean in a heavy wire bail jar. I
didn't do a comparative study of grinding frozen bean vs warm beans, but
freezing did seem to keep the bean alive longer than keeping it in the
refrigerator, which kept it alive much longer than keeping it on the
counter.



Coffee grinders, the thread that will not die!


Went to a persons house the other day to check out some home
improvements. During the social part of the visit this person produces a
tray with a pile of exotic herbs. This tray also had the top of a blade
grinder. What the hell?? He tells me a few short bursts in the grinder
is all it takes to break the "wheat from the chaff", as it were. Who
would have thought?


Back in the Nicholas coffee days I had occasion to use both a Braun burr
grinder and a blade grinder. It didn't seem to make a difference in
amount of coffee needed or in the flavor. Maybe someone with a more
discerning palate could tell a difference. I will say the burr grinder
was more a pain in the ass to use than the blade unit. The burr would
shoot the grindings into a container which was difficult to empty, and
grinding bean by time in stead of volume was not accurate, but since the
SO had paid so much for the contraption it had to be used, if you know
what I mean. :[


Today my blade coffee grinder is used as a spice mill, it's great for
grinding pepper. Even if someone doesn't drink coffee its worth having
one of these grinders around just for this purpose.



The mill I use for grinding coffee is an actual commercial unit from a
coffee shop, 3/4 horse or so motor, big knob to set the grind/ distance
between the disks. And can be easily taken apart for cleaning. Got it at
a flea market for .... $10?? They had three, I wish I had gotten them all.