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

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.

It’s heftier than I thought. Good quality.

Love using this mortar to make pesto. The build quality is great and definitely recommend it.

I use this mortar & pestle daily. Its weighty and looks great on my counter. It’s easy to clean. Great value for the cost.

This turned out to be bigger than I expected (my bad--I always have trouble visualizing sizes) but I have since decided anything smaller would not have suited my needs. This is a beautiful set. I started following Jamie O again, and he so often uses a mortar and pestle that I decided to get one. I actually had one I bought following his example decades ago when he first started, but it was HUGE compared to this one. Too heavy for me to use comfortably.This one has sides that are just high enough to allow vigorous grinding, while also providing a wide-enough inner surface to make it easy. It's not light-weight, but it's not too heavy, either. It won't tip over while you work, but it's not clunky. I am very pleased.

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 :)

Love how nice it looks sitting out on my counter. Heavy duty bowl, great to crush a variety of food items.