Kota Japan Large Black Granite Mortar & Pestle Natural Stone Grinder for Spices, Seasonings, Pastes, Pestos and Guacamole

Other Amazon mortars are polished and don't have any bite to grind. They are for show. Kota Japan is a practical mortar that has great texture and works right out of the box (no rice grinding). Cleans well, just rinse with water. Excellent mortar and pestle.

I browsed a lot of mortar & pestle sets before choosing the Kota. I needed it for crushing herbs for pastes and marinades, and grinding spices. I wanted one that wasn't too big (2 people, big enough for 4 if needed) or too heavy. I wanted high quality. I wanted one that was simple yet beautiful. The Kota checks all the boxes. It's simply lovely and does a great job! The pestle is hefty yet well balanced in my hand and rocks easily, giving a perfect grind and making smooth, even pastes without having to use a ton of muscle. The interior of the pestle is rough enough to give a traction when grinding herbs and spices, yet easy to clean; it's heavy enough to be completely stable when using, but not too heavy to comfortably lift in & out of the cabinet. Aesthetically, the exterior granite has a perfect polish and the shape is simple and refined. The price is an absolute bargain for the quality, design, usefulness and weight. I'm very happy with my choice and can highly recommend the Kota if you are looking for a mortar & pestle set.

Works great and has an appealing simple design. Pay attention to the measurements to make sure it is the right size and shape for your needs. I use it to grind spices for cooking and tea blends (especially chai), and it processes everything quickly and easily. It's the perfect size for those purposes. Maybe a bit small if you're looking to make a big bowl of guacamole though. The "working" parts of the mortar and pestle are not polished, which is appropriate. I bought it for around $30 and feel I got a good deal for the quality. One of the "most useful" reviews on Amazon claims it is magnetic. I have no idea what they received, but mine certainly is not magnetic. Be sure to season and clean thoroughly before using. There are a variety of suggested methods, but grinding rice with some water several times did the trick for me. I also regularly clean it with a stiff brush/hot water after every other use, at least when I know I will be using it for different spices next.

Amazing customer service and a project I Mortar I can't stop using! Atleast twice a week I start my cooking with breaking down and mixing my ingredients in this mortar/pestle and the flavor difference is so noticeable compared to chopping/food processing. I had a component damaged during transit and they responded to my email within 2 minutes and had a replacement in the mail in less then 24 hours. This is a small business run by two dedicated people. Not just a few middlemen selling cheap overseas product. This is also very clearly well made and polished. Not too heavy either with makes it easy to use and clean quickly

I'm a fairly regular home cook and decided to add a medium-sized mortar & pestle to my arsenal. This has been everything I could've hoped for so far. The capacity is just right for my day to day of freshly-grinding spices, breaking down intense aromatics (ginger, garlic, chilies, etc), crushing herbs, etc. It is extremely sturdy and thick - it is not prone to movement while I pound away and I have few concerns about wear. One thing that interested shoppers should understand is that it is not big enough to make large batches of sauces, pastes, marinades, etc. I generally pulverize what I need in it and then transfer to a mixing bowl if I have a large amount of liquid medium (oil, vinegar, etc) to add. But, it is also not as crazy cumbersome as some of the larger mortar & pestles and that makes it a bit easier to clean and operate, making it more viable for regular use.

It's a nice granite spice mill. Feels very solid. Inside surface is coarse while outside surface is very smooth. It's larger than I expected probably more molcajete size. For that reason great value for money as it's larger than other options at this price range. Just realize what you're getting because I didn't realize it would be this large. Somewhat of a pleasant surprise I guess, now I can use it for guacamole in addition to just grinding spices. On another note, the bottom surface is smooth stone as well, not covered with anything, could potentially scratch a counter top or something although unlikely as it's smoothed. Nonetheless I applied some adhesive cork stuff from the dollar store to keep it from sliding around.

I tried many mortar and pestle sets in a span of a week, this was the best combination of performance, weight, capacity, and aesthetics :) it's non-porous which is fantastic. I tried some quick oats and it turned to powder in a few seconds. I used it so far to crush frozen bananas, muddle fresh strawberries, turn almond flour to fine powder, and crush dried blueberries. Capacity is 2 cups, the walls are tall enough to prevent food flying out (I crush carefully too), and the base is wide enough to move crushed food to the side and swirl it, etc.. The bowl shape is very helpful to tilt it to scoop food out. Its weight is ok for me to lift with one hand to rinse or to scoop food into a bowl. I have not crushed garlic or other strongly scented items in it and I do not intend to do so. After crushing the almond meal there seemed to be oil "stains" even after I washed it, but I used it after that to muddle strawberries and they did not taste or smell of almonds and the "stains" were gone, so perhaps next time I use it with oily foods I will try lemon juice with the warm water rinse. The light grey color on the inside is beautiful, I like it because I can still see the color of the food as I work with it (as opposed to very dark interiors). I think it is a beautiful piece and I cannot wait to mush more foods with it :)