Have you ever brewed extra coffee? Maybe you thought you would take more, but after one cup, you are okay. So why not reuse the grounds and coffee? Using the grounds and coffee for your next brewing can be delicious, and it also cuts on wastage.
Table Of Contents
−- What to do With Leftover Coffee
- 1. Cook, Bake, and Blend
- 2. Get Crafty
- 3. Fertilizer and Compost
- 4. Water Your Plants
- 5. Grow mushrooms!
- 6. Get Rid of Odors
- 7. Make aromatic coffee-scented candles.
- 8. Make a DIY Scrubbing Sponge
- 9. A coffee rinse can help to improve the health of your hair
- 10. Make your coffee soap
- 11. Safe Medicine Disposal
- Don’t Throw your Coffee Just Yet…
What to do With Leftover Coffee
Measuring coffee is a necessary practice to reduce wastage. You can get the best out of coffee whenever you brew extra coffee instead of washing it down the drain. Here are useful ways of reusing your extra coffee;
1. Cook, Bake, and Blend
A lot of recipes call for coffee. If you have come across such recipes, the extra coffee can be useful in trying out new meals and delectable desserts. An example of a recipe is the tiramisu-coffee-soaked ladyfingers layered with cocoa powder and mustard.
- Cooking with Leftover Coffee
Leftover coffee can be used in your steak marinade. For a perfect breakfast, you can use coffee instead of water to make the fruit compote. Oatmeal can also be cooked in coffee for a great taste.
Coffee can also increase acidity in your meal. However, you can use the leftover coffee to make barbeque sauce or chili recipes.
- Using Coffee as a Substitute for Baking
Substituting water with leftover coffee for baking cake or brownie mix is nutritious. Trying a coffee-flavored icing and frosting results in very delicious cupcakes and cookies.
Pro Tip: For the best baking results, keep your coffee in the fridge for some hours before use.
- Making Coffee Ice Cubes and smoothies
Does your iced coffee melt down before drinking it? You can fix that by putting leftover coffee on the ice cube tray and letting them freeze overnight. Then, use them in your iced coffee.
You can go a step further by making a coffee smoothie. Just blend coffee ice cubes, a cup of milk or yogurt, and bananas, and cool them. You will get a caffeinated treat. Cinnamon, vanilla, or cocoa powder can be used for flavors.
2. Get Crafty
Coffee stains are annoying. What if you get crafty and make some awesome paintings using coffee? The latte art is very cool. You need watercolor paper and some brushes to get started.
How to use coffee grounds
Coffee grounds can be recycled to make bricks and pellets for clean fuel. You can use them in making your win cooking gas.
3. Fertilizer and Compost
Coffee is rich in nutrients and minerals needed by other plants. Sprinkle the leftover coffee on your lawn for greener grass. Sprinkling grounds and compost on your flower beds helps release nitrogen for healthier bushes and flowers.
Adding grounds to your compost bin boost the growth of good bacteria. The nitrogen-rich condition encourages the growth of microbes that feed your plants.
4. Water Your Plants
Adding cold and diluted coffee to your plants will boost their growth. Some plants do well in acidic conditions. These acid-loving plants include orchids and azaleas.
The best practice in watering with coffee is to use black brewed coffee.
5. Grow mushrooms!
Coffee grounds make an excellent substrate for growing mushrooms, and it’s something everyone should try at least once unless they’re allergic.
What are the advantages of utilizing coffee grinds instead of traditional media like sawdust:
No need to sterilize coffee grounds because the brewing process does it for you.
Every day, you have coffee grounds ready.
6. Get Rid of Odors
Storing coffee beans in fridges absorbs odors. Then, after brewing, you can use the leftover coffee and grounds to soak up the odors.
7. Make aromatic coffee-scented candles.
1 tablespoon of coffee grinds (or whole beans) (used or unused). Pour a thin layer of wax into the mug while holding the wick straight up. To avoid making a mess while pouring wax, we recommend using a funnel; to clean up wax stinks. Apply a light layer of coffee, followed by the remainder of the wax. Make careful the beans aren’t too close to the candle, or they’ll catch fire when lit!
8. Make a DIY Scrubbing Sponge
Coffee grounds make the perfect DIY scrubbing sponge since they are not so coarse. Put the grounds on a rag and twist with a rubber band to have a scrubbing sponge.
9. A coffee rinse can help to improve the health of your hair
Caffeine has several favorable impacts on your hair follicles and roots. Some of these facts are out of this world:
- Improves the health of hair follicles
- Combats the effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which causes follicular shrinkage and hair loss.
- This resulted in a 46 percent increase in hair follicle growth and a 33 percent increase in hair follicle life expectancy!
Depending on the length of your hair, you’ll need roughly 2-4 cups of leftover coffee. First, check to see if you’ve let it cool! Then, after shampooing, apply the coffee. This website suggests applying it with a spray bottle and leaving it on for 20 minutes.
10. Make your coffee soap
Coffee contains antioxidants, which help protect your skin from free radical damage and aging. The use of coffee soap may aid in the reduction of the appearance of sun spots, redness, and fine wrinkles. In addition, coffee soap’s anti-inflammatory properties may be related to chlorogenic and melanoidins in coffee.
11. Safe Medicine Disposal
Disposing of old medicine in a trash bin is unreliable, especially if you have kids and pets. Adding the coffee grounds in a plastic bag and the old medicine makes them unrecognizable for disposal. Kids and pets will not recognize them.
Don’t Throw your Coffee Just Yet…
Before pouring your coffee down the drain, check out how you can use it in your food, plants, cleaning, and painting.
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Disclosure: No compensation or free products were received in exchange for writing this review.
Editorial Staff
The editorial staff at Crazy Coffee Crave is a team of coffee enthusiasts & Baristas who enjoy the one thing we all think about as soon as we get up in the morning. Trusted by thousands of readers worldwide.
