Fresh brewed coffee creates an amazing sensory experience, but dealing with the grounds left behind can best be described as messy. Most people just throw them in the trash but there are lots of ways to use this valuable recycled resource. Here’s a few tips:
Keep Bugs at Bay
Coffee grounds are great for pest control. Ants especially don’t like them - both grounds and the acids damage their exoskeletons. Use spent grounds to keep ants out of the house by laying down a 2 inch wide line around the foundation and entrances. It also works for many kinds of worms, snails, slugs and other insects.
Put the same kind of line around plants, or mix grounds with hot water, and pour over anthills. This also happens to get rid of fleas, too - though your dog or cat might be offended if you pour coffee all over him!
Garden Benefits
Coffee grounds are a great addition to garden fertilizer as they are rich in organic matter and trace elements which make the soil more fertile. Plants that like acidic soil especially benefit from an extra side dressing of grounds. Pick those plants carefully, though; you wouldn’t want to kill your ficus!
Grounds also stimulate growth of some types of vegetables, especially root crops. Mix coffee grounds in rows where you plant carrots, beets or potatoes and see what happens.
And one last benefit... a garden covered with coffee grounds deters neighborhood cats looking for an outdoor litter box.
Healthy Coffee Options
Coffee is one of Nature’s antioxidant bonanzas. Its complex flavors spring from small amounts of several dozens of organic acids that are powerful antioxidants, properties of which have changed the medical perception of coffee from a health threat to a health drink.
Spent coffee grounds retain some of those acids plus are gently abrasive and mildly acidy; those qualities make them a great exfoliant. Instead of paying big money for expensive creams, mix the grounds into cold cream or skin conditioner and give your skin a treatment that tightens, tones and exfoliates in one step. The same chemistry also makes spent grounds a great hair conditioner!
Around the Home
Coffee grounds have been used for over a century to mask food odors in homes and stores. If you have smells in your kitchen, living room, even in the refrigerator or freezer, put out some fresh or even dried coffee grounds to make your home smell much nicer.
In the kitchen, use coffee grounds as a dry rub or add to your usual barbecue mix, to create tasty smoked flavor in foods.
You can also use them to camouflage scratches on your furniture by rubbing them with damp coffee grounds.
Barriques generates 1000’s of pounds of coffee grounds each year in our cafés. Even w/ all these great uses, we have far more than we need. We would be happy to share this wonderful resource so if you would like us to set coffee grounds aside for your own personal use, please let us know.
