There’s nothing like the aroma of a fresh brewed coffee. Why kill that vibe? Coffee grounds can be re-used and re-purposed after they’ve been brewed! Here’s a few of our favourite uses for coffee grounds.

In the Garden

Coffee grounds make for excellent fertilizer because of the nutrients they provide the soil. These nutrients include nitrogen, calcium and potassium, among others. Worms are especially attracted to these nutrients so they’ll be getting an extra buzz when they arrive to your garden to discover the coffee grounds. To use grounds in your garden, simply sprinkle your coffee grounds on the surface of your soil. Your coffee grounds layer should be thinly sprinkled on top of soil (about half an inch). Too much coffee grounds may create a barrier on top of the soil that doesn’t let air and water into the soil.

Make an exfoliating face mask

We have a great face mask recipe that uses coffee grounds and cocoa powder. Check it out here. The coffee helps reduce inflammation and redness and makes for a great exfoliant on your skin.

De-odorize the fridge

Coffee grounds absorb odors, which mean they’re great to get nasty smells out of the fridge. Simply put a bowl of dried coffee grounds in your fridge and you’ll smell the difference within a day.

Clean up your pots & pans

The coarse texture of coffee grounds makes them a great cleaner for sticky, burned-on messes, and is especially good for cast iron pans. Here’s how we do it.

Use as a dye

You know that coffee stains if you’ve ever spilled it on yourself. So if you want to purposefully dye something like paper or fabric, coffee is a great source. Add the coffee grounds to a pot of hot water and add whatever it is you want to dye – fabric, Easter eggs or paper. Let it sit in the water for at least 1 hour (can be longer if you want a darker colour) and then take out to let air dry. If dying fabric, be sure to watch the fabric first in cold water and vinegar to help absorb the coffee dye.

Great for compost

If you make your own compost, you definitely want to be add your coffee grounds to it. Compost with a high coffee ground content has been seen to give off less greenhouse gases than those composts that don’t have coffee grounds and it will have a higher nutrient content. So while coffee gives humans a jolt in the morning, it’s also giving a jolt of nutrients to our compost bins! 

Make a treat

Use the grounds to make Coffee Infused Truffles (recipe here). Just replace the full beans with the coffee grounds wrapped tightly in cheesecloth or a tea strainer.

Coffee keeps the garlic away

Just like coffee deodorizes your fridge, it can also deodorize your hands after you’ve chopped garlic. The grounds absorb the garlic smell AND exfoliate them at the same time. To use, keep a bowl of coffee grounds at the sink and the next time you chop garlic, rub a small amount of coffee grounds on your hands with a little bit of water. Rinse it off and your hands will be smelling like a fresh cup of joe (and not like garlic!)

Make Playdough

While the kids are still at home, this is a great way to pass the time and reuse your kitchen materials! Plus, if it accidentally gets eaten, there’s no harmful ingredients (other than maybe a coffee buzz). Here’s the recipe