Just slurped your way through a steaming pot of coffee and now feeling refreshed and ready for anything? Good for you, but what about those poor old coffee grounds left languishing – what a waste! But wait, don’t feed them to your bin just yet. You might be surprised to hear there are a few interesting things you can do to repurpose coffee grounds (aside from make coffee)! So, scoop up the leftovers and get resourceful, here are 10 great ideas to get you started:
Give Your Soil a Healthy Boost
Looking to create a gorgeous garden? Then you could do with a shed-load of nurturing compost to give your soil a healthy boost. So, we guess it makes sense to add coffee grounds to the mix – if coffee can give you a kick up the jacksy, why can’t it do the same for your soil? The best compost comprises a mixture of carbon (dry stuff like paper, egg shells and leaves) and nitrogen (the stuff that warms up the compost, such as food waste, manure and – you’ve guessed it – coffee grounds)!
Give Yourself a Good Scrub
Vitamin Coffee is great for you - both inside and out, it has amazing health benefits and can really give you a boost. If your skin feels as rough as sandpaper it’s time to take action. Used coffee grounds have a grainy texture and they work well as an exfoliator. Don’t rub them straight onto your skin, add them to an oil – coconut oil works well. Alternatively get a bit creative and make your own skin scrub and add the grounds to that (there are plenty of simple recipes available online if you’re not sure where to start).
Give Your Kitchen a Good Scrub
There’s a couple of nasty looking stains on your kitchen worktop and you are dismayed to find that you have expelled the last few squirts of kitchen cleaner. Don’t grab your coat and head straight for the shops just yet. Save yourself a couple of quid and make up a quick mixture of soapy water with used coffee grounds thrown in. Give the surfaces a good scrub using a soft cloth dipped in your mixture.
Treat Your Meat
Want to give your meat a good dollop of flavour and make sure it stays nice and juicy? Used coffee grounds can help you with that too. They help to keep the meat moist and also add a unique flavour to your chop, loin or steak. Enjoy!
Banish Pongs from your Fridge
If your fridge smells a bit ripe, you can use coffee grounds to remove foul odours. Just pop a bowl of coffee grounds in the fridge and they will soak up the lingering whiff of left-over salmon and expensive (but stinky) cheese.
Deport Bugs from Your Garden
You’ve used the coffee infused compost to make your garden look amazing and now some cheeky pests have come to make a meal out of your Marigolds – leaving them looking more mangled than magnificent. Get your hands on more used coffee grounds and this time scatter them around the base of your beloved plants. Slugs and snails enjoy gliding along a nice smooth patio and pavement, they will not be impressed by spiky coffee grounds forming an uncomfortable carpet before them. Let the pests will go elsewhere for their fine-dining experience.
Do Good to Your Wood
Coffee grounds can also be used to produce a stain to freshen up your wood. Soak the used grounds in water, drain and you will be left with an effective wood stain. This is a handy and inexpensive way to cover up any scrapes and scratches on furniture.
Ward Off Pesky Fleas
If you have a dog or cat then you also have an interest in keeping your home flea-free. You can stroke used coffee beans through your canine or felines hair, fleas aren’t coffee-lovers so will stay well clear! As another plus your pet will smell like your favourite brew and that’s much better than smelly cat or wet dog stink any day of the week!
Enjoy Your Brew and Reuse Too
We hope you enjoyed these 10 great ways to repurpose coffee grounds. Love your coffee and feel smug that you are not wasting any of it! A victory for coffee lovers everywhere. If you have any other great tips and hints on how to repurpose coffee grounds we would love to hear them!