6 Things to do With Your Coffee Grounds

When you use an AeroPress coffee maker, and indeed many other coffee makers, as well as a delicious cup of coffee, you’ll be left with your AeroPress filters and used coffee grounds.

While you can just put your coffee grounds straight in the bin, with sustainability at the forefront of many people’s minds these days, you may prefer to get further use out of them.

Luckily, there are many ways in which you can make the most out of your used coffee grounds. We share six things that you can do with your coffee grounds.

Get Rid of Bad Smells

Coffee grounds can help to neutralise odours, due to the nitrogen within it. The nitrogen works to absorb and eliminate sulfur gas in the air. Coffee grounds can be popped in a bowl in your fridge to eliminate overpowering food smells or odours caused by spoiled food.

Make Air Freshener 

If you want a coffee ground air freshener to use around the home, then add some grounds to an organza bag or other sheer fabric, such as tights, and they can be placed anywhere to deodorise, such as in drawers or shoes.

Exfoliate Your Skin

Coffee grounds are quite coarse, so work well to remove dead cells from the skin as a natural exfoliant. Mix your coffee grounds with a bit of coconut oil and get scrubbing.

Alternatively, the coffee grounds can be mixed with some honey to form a great lip scrub. In addition to its exfoliating properties, coffee also helps to protect the skin from sun damage, and promotes skin health by increasing blood flow.

Make Soap

If you’re into soap making, or want to give the craft a try, then coffee grounds are a great addition to a soap for these reasons. You can read about more of the benefits of coffee on skin here.

Use as a Fertiliser For Your Garden

Plants need nutrients to grow, but the soil they are planted in may not contain enough nutrients for them to reach their full potential. Therefore, most gardens will need fertiliser added to them to provide plants with extra nourishment for them to thrive.

Attracts Worms

Coffee grounds contain many minerals that are beneficial to plants, including calcium, potassium, nitrogen, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and chromium. As well as this, worms love coffee grounds, so adding your grounds to the soil will attract them, which will do wonders for your garden. Simply sprinkle your used coffee grounds over the soil that surrounds your plants.

Add it to the Compost

Another helpful tip for gardeners is to add your coffee grounds to your compost heap. The composting process sees organic material turned into a rich, dark material known as compost. This compost is added to the garden to provide the soil with more nutrients and water.

Coffee Compost Has More Nutrients

Studies have found that compost that includes coffee grounds, in addition to kitchen waste, contained more nutrients than that produced using kitchen waste alone. Using compost that contains 40 percent coffee grounds also helps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that come from the compost decomposing.

Use to Clean the House

Coffee grounds work excellently as a scrub, working to remove build-up on cookware and surfaces. A great natural alternative to harsh cleaning chemicals, coffee grounds can be used to scour sinks, clean out grills and return your pots and pans to a shiny appearance.

Coffee also contains antibacterial properties, so using the grounds as a house cleaning product can also help to sanitise work surfaces. However, be sure not to use it on porous materials, as this can cause staining.

Repair Damaged Furniture

Does a piece of wooden furniture you own have an annoying scratch on it? Luckily coffee may be able to help here too! Make a thick paste using coffee grounds and a bit of water. Use a cotton bud and rub the paste onto the scratch, before leaving it to soak in for about ten minutes.

Wipe the excess coffee paste away with a soft cloth. The coffee paste should help to buff away the scratch and will dye the exposed wood a deep brown (coffee) colour that will make the scratch less obvious. You can repeat this process until you achieve the colour you want. 

What do you do with your used coffee grounds? Leave us a comment to let us know.