Five tips: Reuse coffee grounds easily at home

1. Green and thriving: coffee grounds for your house and garden plants

Coffee grounds are ideal as fertiliser – both for indoor plants and for the garden. In addition to caffeine, coffee also contains ingredients such as potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. These are valuable nutrients, especially for plants that love an acidic soil. To provide them with these nutrients, you can simply work the coffee grounds into the soil once they have dried completely.

2. Bye-bye bad smells: Coffee grounds as an odour neutraliser

Have you ever noticed that in perfume shops, there are always coffee beans available for the customers? The reason for this is quite simple: they neutralise odours. You can smell the beans in between different perfumes and will immediately be more receptive to the new fragrances. You can also take advantage of the odour-neutralising effect of coffee if you want to combat stubborn smells. Both freshly ground and used, dried coffee grounds perform the same function as coffee beans. You can put them in the refrigerator, for example, sprinkle them in shoes or rub your hands with them after chopping onions.

3. Velvety soft skin: coffee grounds as an exfoliator

For years, the rumour has persisted that peels – including those homemade from coffee grounds – are miracle cures for cellulite. We do not want to contribute to the demonisation of cellulite, nor do we want to make false promises. What coffee peels are actually good for, though, is the kind of exfoliator used as originally intended: for rubbing off of flakes of dead skin. Simply mix 5 tablespoons of coffee grounds with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and spread this DIY exfoliating scrub over your body. Instead of coconut oil, you can also use shea butter, olive oil or jojoba oil.

By the way: if coffee grounds go down the drain after your peel, that’s fine (in small quantities!), as long as you rinse them down with enough water.

4. Zero-waste kitchen: coffee grounds as a cleaning agent

Burned-on patches on the pan – we all know them. Next time, instead of grabbing your scouring cream, as usual, have a go with the coffee grounds that are left over after your lunchtime coffee. This natural form of scouring powder is a little insider tip among the household tricks for making pots and pans ready for use again. To use this method, simply add about a teaspoon of coffee grounds to the area you want to clean and remove the dirt with
a rag.

5. Earthworms love them: coffee grounds in your household compost

We have already explained that coffee can be a good plant fertilizer. It’ll be no surprise, then, if we tell you that it also performs very well in home compost. It enriches the soil with nutrients, loosens the substrate, and, additionally, serves as food for earthworms. So: grab your coffee grounds and add them to your compost pile. Just remember to use them in their dried state to avoid mould forming.

Tip: How to dry and store coffee grounds correctly

In their moist state, coffee grounds start to mould quickly. You should, therefore, let them dry thoroughly before reusing them. You can do this very easily by allowing the cooled coffee grounds to dry in the fresh air, for example, on a baking tray. Alternatively, you can also place the baking tray in the oven just after the oven has been used and allow them to dry in the residual heat. Afterwards, the dry coffee grounds can be stored in a sealable, airtight container in a dark, cool place.