Over two-thirds of all Americans start their day with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, and the average American coffee fan drinks three cups of coffee a day. Each cup of coffee leaves behind used coffee grounds, and most of those grounds end up in the trash. But there is a better way to handle spent coffee grounds.
There are dozens of things you can do with spent coffee grounds from taking care of your home and garden to craft projects to personal care. Look through these ideas for coffee grounds uses to make the most of the waste from all those cups of coffee.
This coffee scrubs mixture will exfoliate your skin and remove dead skin cells. The coconut oil acts as a pleasant moisturizer, leaving your skin smooth and soft and smelling fresh.
Your coffee grounds mixture is also a natural treatment for the dark circles under your eyes. Use a cotton swab or cotton ball, and be careful not to get coffee grounds in your eyes.
You can easily make fizzing bath bombs with your leftover coffee grounds. Simply mix together:
Press into a bath bomb mold and let dry for at least 24 hours. Store in an airtight container.
Since coffee grounds have great exfoliating properties, they make a great addition to homemade soap.
This is one of the littler known uses for coffee grounds. Researchers have found that an excess of the hormone DHT can lead to hair loss. A study in the International Journal of Dermatology revealed that caffeine can block the effects of DHT and stimulate hair growth.
You can make a coffee rinse by steeping your used grounds in hot water for a few hours. Let it cool completely. Saturate your hair with this rinse and cover with a shower cap. Allow it to sit on your hair for 30 minutes and then rinse thoroughly with clean water.
You know how difficult it can be to remove the smell of garlic or onions from your hands after chopping. Coffee grounds come to the rescue!
Rub the fresh grounds thoroughly on your hands until the odors are eliminated and then wash your hands with soap and water.
The caffeine in coffee grounds can act as a skin tightener and reduce skin dimples. The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery suggests using massage to improve the appearance of cellulite, and a coffee scrub is a great to use for this. The combination of caffeine and massage can increase blood flow, improve lymphatic drainage, and tighten the skin.
Coffee grounds have a natural scouring ability. You can use them to get off caked on food and stains without having to use harsh chemicals or an abrasive cleaner like steel wool:
Dark wood furniture can look shabby with lots of scratches. You can eliminate scuffs and furniture scratches with coffee grounds:
Cleaning ashes out of a wood-burning fireplace can make a huge mess with dust flying everywhere. To keep the ash dust down, sprinkle cooled damp ground coffee over the pile of ashes. You can then scoop up the ashes without stirring up the dust.
Use coffee grounds to make a roach trap to get rid of these pesky pests:
The roaches will climb up the jar attracted by the coffee smell and fall in. They are then unable to get out. Dump the jars each day and repeat until the roaches are gone.
Dry used coffee grounds completely. Put them in an open bowl or jar in your refrigerator to absorb unsavory odors. It also works to eliminate chemical odors from new carpeting or furniture.
Most people use salt on slippery surfaces to help it melt faster and provide some traction. Over time, salt can damage concrete and wood surfaces and is harmful for nearby plants. A gentler way to do this is with used coffee grounds.
Coffee-flavored desserts are nothing new. But you can add extra coffee flavor to any baked good.
To make coffee flavored whipped cream:
Any recipes using chocolate or your own homemade chili can benefit from the extra punch of coffee flavor:
The coffee flavor adds a bolder and richer flavor to these dishes.
A coffee ground meat rub adds just the right flavor to steaks and roasts.
Mix with:
Coffee also acts as a natural tenderizer and helps the rub helps seal in some of the meat’s moisture.
Thoroughly dry your used coffee grounds. Then boil them with purified water to make a beautiful brown fabric dye. This dye works on all types of fabric, including cotton, linen, polyester, silk, and rayon. Researchers are looking at ways to incorporate this natural dye into commercial manufacturing processes.
Use coffee grounds to turn white paper into craft paper with an aged and parchment look.
When you can’t get enough of that lovely coffee beans aroma, light up a coffee candle to get the wonderful smell of fresh beans without having to brew a pot of coffee.
Coffee grounds give Easter eggs a beautiful soft tan coloring. To dye eggs:
To make designs on the eggs:
Coffee grounds work just like other organic plant material in your compost bin along with food scraps, kitchen waste, and grass clippings. They provide just the right amount of nitrogen, along with other nutrients including potassium and magnesium. Their coarse texture makes it easy to toss coffee grounds directly into your compost bins.
Not everyone can manage a compost pile, especially if you live in an apartment or don’t have the time to maintain the rich compost.
Luckily, coffee grinds can be spread right on the soil of your houseplants for plant growth. You’ll get the best results by sprinkling coffee grounds into the pots a couple of times a month.
Who doesn’t love the smell of coffee? Well, it turns out ants, slugs, and other garden pests don’t like it at all. Sprinkle coffee grounds around the base of your houseplants or tomato plants for an organic way to repel unwanted pests.
Having a neighborhood cat use your garden as a litter box is never pleasant. Cats do not care for the aroma of coffee grounds. Sprinkle some around your garden and flower beds to gently shoo them away.
If your indoor cat is snacking on the potted plants in your home, use coffee grounds in the pots to deter them from eating your houseplants.
Let your used coffee grounds dry out completely. Then, burn them in an aluminum tray or a clay pot. The coffee grounds will slowly smolder and produce fragrant to repel mosquitos in the area.
Another pest you can repel by the smell of old coffee grounds are fleas. Rub used coffee grounds into your pet’s fur during a bath. Then ,brush the grounds out with a flea comb. This is a great alternative to using harsh chemicals to combat your pet’s flea problem.
Worms are attracted to coffee grounds. Mix coffee grounds into your worm-filled bait box or worm bin to help them stay alive longer. If you’d like to attract beneficial worms to your garden areas, toss in coffee grounds to your amended soil when planting new seeds or plants.
If you live in a coffee-loving household, you may find your own personal supply of coffee grounds can meet all your needs. But with all these great tips for using spent grounds, you’ll soon be looking for more.
Your workplace can be a great source of coffee grounds. Simply make it a habit to collect the used grounds from the communal coffee maker in your breakroom. If you make a new pot of coffee at the same time, you’ll also be rewarded with a fresh cup of coffee each time.
Ask at your local coffee shop or at a Starbucks near you. Many are happy to give out a bag or two of used coffee grounds to anyone who asks. And if that is still not enough, you can ask your neighbors or friends to store up their used coffee grounds for you.
If you use a Keurig or similar machine, you may find it challenging to salvage your used grounds. Figuring out how to extract the grounds not only gives you a steady supply, but also will allow you to recycle the plastic and aluminum components in each coffee pod. You can manually open up the pod, but there is a handy tool that makes the job easier. With a Recycle A Cup tool, you can separate the contents of the pod with a quick twist.
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