Don’t Throw Away Those Golden Coffee Grounds

Are you still throwing your used coffee grounds into the garbage? Please say you’re not. After all, those humble grounds have a multitude of uses, so their value is not diminished after they give the best part of themselves for your coffee drinking pleasure. They deserve a second or third mission in life – it’s the least we can do for them, after all they give us. We’ve reported often on the many uses for recycling coffee grounds. Again and again yet another such article appears.

This week it was Stephanie Rogers writing on Shine, putting forward 20 “unusual” uses for coffee. Though she covers uses we’ve previously reported, such as compost, fireplace ash dust reducer, skin scrub, fertilizer, odor absorber and more, there are lots of good tips to be gleaned from her article. Coffee grounds absorb odor; after all, if they can take care of one of the worst odors of all – skunks – they should find no match for your fridge and car interior. Garlic on your hands? Just rub with used coffee grounds and rinse. You’ll not only get rid of the bad smell, but exfoliate any dry skin at the same time. If you add a little olive or coconut oil, your skin will love you even more.

Gardeners will find so many needs for used grounds, they will probably have to up their daily intake of coffee. Great for keeping cats out of gardens, but attractive to the much desired compost-creating worms, sprinkling grounds everywhere among your plants will go a long way to improving their energy. Put it around ant populations in your yard too while you’re at it. For those areas of the country where ants take up residence in the home, putting grounds around foundations and their other entrance areas might help keep them away. And if you have given up on your garden, try growing mushrooms in used coffee grounds. You can find kits and directions on the internet. While you’re keeping the ants away, rub a little on Fido after his bath, to repel fleas and improve his doggy odor.

The article even suggests using coffee as a hair rinse on your own hair, to give it shine and a darker color temporarily. Experience has shown however, that coffee alone doesn’t dye hair. It has to be mixed with a stronger dye, such as henna, to actually color hair. In fact henna can be toned down to rich coffee brown shades with the addition of strong day-old brewed coffee. If these suggestions aren’t enough, try making a pin cushion and filling it with coffee grounds. Rogers also found a good use for instant coffee; making a paste of it can make furniture scratches disappear, repeating applications as needed to reach the correct color of the wood. You now have twenty more reasons for drinking coffee. Can anyone imagine a more giving plant than the coffee tree? All that great taste and energy, and a multi-purpose home aid as well. You just gotta love it!