Besides caffeinating your day with pick-me-up jolts, coffee’s many perks at home extend well beyond sipping your cuppa Joe. It turns out, used coffee grounds can be a valuable resource around the house. Instead of ditching those dregs after coffee brewing, consider these surprising and effortlessly simple household hacks for repurposing leftover coffee debris, such as: deodorizing, gardening, cleaning, cooking, and cleansing. That’s right, save those grimy grounds and put them to handy-dandy use!
Here are our top 5 nifty and natural ways to repurpose used coffee grounds at home that you probably haven’t tried yet and may be missing out on. Even better – when using our organic coffee, you and your home are free of pesticides or chemicals!
Deodorizing
Used coffee grounds can serve as a natural air freshener, absorbing unwanted odors.
1. Place a dish of grounds (dried first) to freshen your fridge.
2. Neutralize smells in the microwave by combining 2 tbsp of grounds with 1/2 cup of water, then heat for less than a minute.
3. Absorb unpleasant smells in a shoe or garbage closet by hanging an old stocking or cheesecloth filled with grounds (dried first).
Gardening
In addition to disposing used coffee grounds in your green bin for the City’s composting program, consider using them in your own garden.
1. Add them to your outdoor compost bin. The grounds help to stabilize the pH level and degrade food quickly, plus deodorize the bin.
2. They are rich in minerals for fertilizing plants, and grounds can regulate soil moisture as mulch.
3. Their higher acidity may benefit acid loving plants and boost the flowers’ blooms, like roses, gardenias, azaleas, holly, and rhododendrons. Coffee can also prevent fungal infections in plants.
4. Sprinkle them around plants to repel ants, snails, slugs, cats and dogs, as they dislike the smell.
Cleaning
There are many practical cleaning applications for used coffee grounds.
1. They make a good abrasive for scrubbing stubborn stains on greasy or grimy pots and pans.
2. Wash your hands with them to eliminate odor, especially after handling garlic, onions or seafood.
3. Sprinkle them on sidewalks to clear ice in the winter. Coffee acidity helps to de-ice and add surface grip.
Cooking
With used coffee grounds, you can infuse an earthy, smoky or nutty flavour in a range of savoury to sweet dishes – from tenderizing meats to whipping up marinades, spice rubs, sauces, glazes, vinaigrettes, jellies, and desserts. Get cooking with plenty of fun recipes in our Pinterest Coffee Recipes board.
Cleansing
Make your own natural, gentle cleansers to restore and nourish skin or hair with used coffee grounds, which are loaded with antioxidants.
1. Exfoliate skin with a mix of equal parts grounds and olive, coconut or avocado oil.
2. Create a luscious bath scrub. For example: mix grounds with coconut oil, coconut palm sugar and cinnamon. Recipe. Find other suggestions for coffee scrubs in our Pinterest Coffee Culture board.
3. Rejuvenate and add shine to your dark or red hair by massaging grounds in and rinsing.
The list doesn’t end here. There’s no shortage of other ways to apply spent coffee grounds, including: staining furniture, killing fleas on dogs to removing dark circles under your eyes. Therefore, after you’ve enjoyed drinking your brewed Trees Organic coffee at home, put those used coffee grounds to work – keep ‘em and reuse ‘em!
