Coffee grounds: 4 tips to reuse your coffee grounds
Do you, like most people, throw the coffee grounds from your coffee machine straight into the trash? Shame! You can do many things with coffee grounds, but many of them are cumbersome or work minimal. We don’t want to waste your time, so we’ve narrowed our list to 4 practical and easy ways to reuse coffee grounds. Let’s get started quickly.
- Use coffee grounds as compost.
Coffee grounds are a great addition to compost bins and gardens. In the gardening world, coffee grounds are labelled ‘green’, meaning very rich in nitrogen. Worms like nitrogen-rich soil, which in turn is suitable for carrying away the water (drainage). Do you suffer from worms eating the crops of your vegetable garden? Then it might be a good idea to limit the use of coffee grounds in your compost.
Coffee grounds are also rich in magnesium, potassium, calcium and other vitamins and minerals. Use coffee grounds as fertiliser by spreading small amounts in your garden. Just as important: make sure to limit the use of coffee grounds on plants that benefit less from the higher acidity of the coffee.
2. Coffee scrub
The grainy texture and acidic content of coffee grounds make them great scrubs. Make your body scrub with just a few simple ingredients.
Mix these ingredients from your kitchen and store them in a mason jar.
- Three teaspoons used coffee grounds
- One tablespoon of natural oil (coconut or cold-pressed olive oil)
- One teaspoon of brown sugar
Also, a coffee scrub is an excellent way to care for your beard hair and the underlying skin for men with a beard. This way, you remove the dead skin cells so active ingredients from, for example, beard oil can be better absorbed.
3. Neutralize smelly odours
Coffee grounds like to absorb all the odours around them. That’s why you should always keep coffee bags closed – you don’t want your fresh beans to taste like anything other than the beautiful coffee aromas.
If you have used the coffee beans, you can use this property to your advantage.
Put some dried coffee grounds in a shallow container behind your fridge. It won’t mask the smell of something seriously spoiling, but it will help keep your fridge smelling fresh. The same goes for a smelly toilet or smelly socks!
Throw a few tablespoons of sediment down the drain, followed by two drops of soap and boiling water. This breaks down the grease, cleans the pipe and reduces drain odours. Don’t do this several times a month to avoid blockages.
4. Controlling insects and pests
Specific components of coffee, such as caffeine and diterpenes, can be highly toxic to insects. That is why you can use coffee grounds to repel insects.
They are effective against mosquitoes, fruit flies and beetles and can also help keep other pests away.
Place a bowl of coffee grounds in the desired location to use coffee grounds as an insect and pest repellent.
Are you tired of slugs? Sprinkle a little dried coffee on the places in the garden where these snails like to go.
Conclusion: don’t throw away coffee grounds!
After reading this article, you will know that you can do countless things with used coffee. Then why throw it away? How do you use coffee grounds? Feel free to email me if you have any tips for our readers.
