You can grind salt in a coffee grinder, but the salt will absorb coffee oils and flavors permanently.
If you need to grind salt occasionally, dedicate a cheap blade grinder to the task. Do not use your coffee grinder.
How Does A Salt Grinder Work?
Salt grinders also go by the name salt mills. The grinding mechanism in a salt mill is usually made of ceramic or nylon to avoid being rusted by the salt.
You will also find many brands developing chromium and nickel stainless steel salt grinders. The best salt grinders are white alumina ceramic; they are non-wearing, anti-corrosive, and stand the test of time.
Salt Grinder & Coffee Grinder: The Differences
The difference between a salt grinder and a coffee grinder lies in the blades. The blades in salt grinders chop spices and rock salt into small bits. Meanwhile, the best coffee grinders I have been using are built with conical burrs to grind the beans into the coffee ground.
You might also be interested in our guide on the best coffee grinders for spices.
How Do You Grind Salt Without A Grinder?
While you can grind rock salt using a coffee grinder, in some cases, you may not even have a coffee grinder at hand to start. So what would you do to crush salt?
Growing up in an Asian family, we always have a mortar and pestle at home. Put rock salt inside the mortar and smash it using the pestle. This method obviously cannot give you powdered salt, but the more effort and force you put into the grinding work, the more uniform the salt becomes.
If you don’t have a mortar and pestle handy, put salt into a plastic bag or a ziplock bag and hammer it carefully with a clean hammer.
Will Grinding Salt In A Coffee Grinder Impact The Coffee?
Grinding salt in a coffee grinder will affect the flavor of your coffee if you don’t know how to clean it properly after use. You can grind old beans you don’t care about and remove the leftover salt before the new coffee beans go in. Alternatively, uncooked rice also comes in handy if you don’t have old coffee beans.
This simple tactic will help remove any unwanted smell and weird taste if you use the coffee grinder for salt or other spices with a strong aroma like pepper. However, I still recommend going for another round of cleaning by using a dry, clean towel to eliminate all the smell and leftover flavor on the burrs and blades before assembling it.
What Kind Of Coffee Grinder Can You Use To Grind Salt?
To answer this question, you have to ask yourself what kind of salt you’re using and how large the batch is. If you only need to grind a small pinch of salt, I recommend using a mortar and pestle or smashing it in a ziplock bag with a hammer to get the salt ready.
If you need to handle a large batch of crystal rock salt, you can use a manual coffee grinder called Hario “Skerton Pro” Ceramic Manual Coffee Grinder. As the hopper can hold 100 grams of coffee ground, you can use this handy gadget to grind your batch of salt within minutes.
[lasso box=”B01MXJI90S” link_id=”23955″ ref=”amzn-hario-skerton-pro-ceramic-manual-coffee-grinder-black” id=”57565″]
Our Testing Notes
We’ve tested this brewing method extensively in our coffee lab, and here’s what the data doesn’t always tell you:
Water temperature matters more than most guides suggest. We found that 200-205°F consistently produced better extraction than the often-recommended 195°F. The difference was especially noticeable with lighter roasts—underheat them and you get sour, underwhelming coffee that wastes good beans.
The grind size recommendations online are a starting point, not gospel. Your specific grinder, beans, and even altitude affect optimal grind. We keep a brewing journal and adjust by one click finer or coarser until dialing in a new bag. Takes about 3 brews to nail it.