{"id":60221,"date":"2023-08-22T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T06:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=60221"},"modified":"2023-08-22T07:23:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T07:23:19","slug":"uses-for-your-leftover-coffee-grounds-go-to-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/uses-for-your-leftover-coffee-grounds-go-to-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Clever Coffee Hacks: Don’t Let Your Leftover Coffee Grounds Go To Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re a little coffee-crazed… we love to brew it, smell it, sip it and savour it in any and all ways possible. But, did you know that coffee has bounteous uses besides bringing us pure unadulterated, caffeinated joy? We\u2019ve put together a fun list of how you can repurpose your coffee grounds \u2013 for the foodies, the green thumbs, the little ones at home and lovers of DIY.<\/p>\n

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Kitchen Uses<\/h3>\n

Coffee grounds are good for more than just brewing your morning fix.<\/p>\n

Cooking & Baking<\/h4>\n

While coffee is the staple breakfast beverage (lunch and dinner too), it\u2019s also a delicious addition to your list of cooking ingredients. Now, you may already associate coffee with sweet and dessert-style recipes like tiramisu<\/a>, but you can actually incorporate coffee into savoury recipes too for rich, earthy and smoky flavours. Check out some of our amazing coffee recipes<\/a> that you can try at home.<\/p>\n

Cleaning & Odours<\/h4>\n

Soaked your pots and pans and still struggling to clean the grime<\/a>? A few coffee grounds on a cloth or rag can be really effective in scrubbing off those stubborn hang-ons. Just be careful not to use coffee on dishes that stain easily, like ceramic. Coffee is also your pal when it comes to getting rid of bad smells. Simply keep a little dish of coffee grounds in your fridge to absorb any funky scents \u2013 same as you would with bicarb.<\/p>\n

Keep another little dish on your kitchen counter, so you can rub your fingers with coffee after cutting garlic and onions. The grounds will absorb all that garlicky odour.<\/p>\n

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Gardening with Coffee<\/h3>\n

Grounds are great for gardening.<\/p>\n

Food for your Flora<\/h4>\n

Leftover coffee grounds can be used in your garden in a multitude of ways. Coffee has properties that, if used correctly, will have great benefits to your plants and soil. You can even use coffee to brighten up your flowers! The colour of Hydrangeas for example, is influenced by the pH level in the soil, so if you add coffee grounds to your soil, the pH level will lower and your flowers will turn blue!<\/p>\n

Coffee Compost<\/h4>\n

Chucking your leftover coffee grounds in your compost pile is as easy as throwing them in the bin. Don\u2019t have a compost pile? Now’s a great time to start one… it’s not only beneficial for your plants, but it\u2019s another useful way to manage your waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill \u2013 yay!<\/p>\n

Coffee grounds add nitrogen to your compost pile, which all plants require for healthy growth and reproduction. Categorised as a \u2018green compost material\u2019, it\u2019s essential that you combine an appropriate amount of brown compost material to your coffee grounds e.g. wood chips, dry leaves and saw dust. The ideal ratio is 4:1 (brown to green).<\/p>\n

Fertiliser<\/h4>\n

Coffee grounds can also be sprinkled directly onto the soil and raked through as a slow-release fertiliser, which adds organic matter to the soil. This helps to improve aeration, drainage and water retention. It also attracts our little earthworm friends to naturally till your soil to loosen it, while add essential micronutrients like potassium and phosphorus.<\/p>\n

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Watering<\/h4>\n

Just like coffee gets our rears in gear every morning, it gives plants a natural push too. Leftover brewed coffee, or residual coffee from machine drip trays can provide acid-loving plants a growth boost. Pour the cold leftover coffee into your plants once a week, but be careful not to ‘overwater’ them with coffee… if your soil is too acidic, the leaves will start turning yellow-brown.<\/p>\n

Deter Animals<\/h4>\n

Another debatable use for coffee grounds is that it can deter unwanted garden pests. We say ‘debatable’, because who doesn\u2019t want a garden full of puddy tats<\/em>? While coffee may be an irresistible aroma to the human shnoz, it\u2019s an unpleasant smell for our feline friends with hypersensitive olfactories<\/a>. Combined with another strong scent such as orange peel, the smell of coffee grounds will keep stray cats out of your gardens.<\/p>\n

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Home & Skincare<\/h3>\n

Save coins and make your own…<\/p>\n

Air-freshener<\/h4>\n

What better way to pay homage to our beloved coffee than by having little scented coffee surprises around our homes? Double-up some clean stockings and fill them with collected grounds from your coffee grinder, tie it off and voil\u00e0 \u2013<\/em>\u00a0you have a homemade coffee-scented air freshener!<\/p>\n

Coffee-scented Candles<\/h4>\n

You can also transform your leftover coffee grounds into a neat and beautifully scented candle to give off more coffee aroma to your home. Making candles<\/a> is super-easy and fun activity that you can do at home on a rainy day or any day, really.<\/p>\n

Coffee Varnish<\/h4>\n

Get crafty and use your leftover coffee grounds to turn your coffee table into old fashioned weathered timber. All you\u2019ll need is a tablespoon of coffee, steel wool, white vinegar and a jar to place all of your ingredients in. Place ingredients into the jar and leave for 24 hours. Once the steel wool has adopted the coffee colour, fish it out your jar with a plastic glove or bag and wipe it over your wood, re-dipping when necessary. Once you have done the first coat, allow to dry for an hour before getting your second coat on. Abracadabra<\/em>!<\/p>\n

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Skincare<\/h4>\n

You guessed it – coffee is your bod\u2019s best friend too. The properties in coffee will do wonders for your skin; the granular consistency makes it perfect for exfoliation and getting into those pores. For your face, simply use leftover coffee grounds with a bit of coconut oil and tea tree oil, and gently scrub your face in circles. Your face will be left feeling smooth, energised, and smelling like tiramisu.<\/p>\n

Similarly, you can make our little moisturising hazelnut body scrub<\/a> blocks. These guys are amazing for your skin, and so easy to make and store.<\/p>\n

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Playdough<\/h4>\n

Even the kids can get involved in the leftover coffee ground excitement! Mixing up your coffee grounds with a bit of flour, water, salt and cold coffee can make the base for versatile doughs. Bring those raptors to life by cooking up some epic little homemade fossils for your kids to make at home.<\/p>\n

If your kids aren\u2019t mad about our prehistoric predecessors, you can use shells, Barbies, or whatever animals your little ones are crazy about to create fossil imprints \u2013 let the imagination run wild! See how to make them here<\/a>. Alternatively, you can hide little treats, toys and objects inside the dough mixture by creating balls and baking them, which your mini archaeologists can bury in their excavation site, dig up and crack open!<\/p>\n

You can even make your own playdough with your leftover coffee. This version<\/a> is really easy to make, and while it may taste pretty grim, its edible, which means it\u2019s safe for your little ones to experiment with.<\/p>\n

Watercolour Paint<\/h4>\n

Regular brewed coffee can even be used for watercolour painting! You\u2019ll only have the colour brown, but still a great, non-toxic and natural paint. Just dip a paintbrush into your brewed coffee, and stroke onto paper or card \u2013 it will dry in the same fashion as watercolour paint, with a faded textured look.<\/p>\n

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Being Friendly To Our Environment<\/h3>\n

Modern conveniences call for modern day solutions. The ever-growing demand for convenience means that there are new products consistently being developed to meet our needs. The coffee capsules, for example, is one such product that has been developed for consumer’s convenience. The nature of these singular pods, however, means that we have more packaging and more waste. Be sure to recycle responsibly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coffee crazy like us? We can teach you everything you need to know about coffee right here<\/a>. Also, cook and bake like a pro with these coffee recipes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re a little coffee-crazed… we love to brew it, smell it, sip it and savour it in any and all ways possible. But, did you know that coffee has bounteous uses besides bringing us pure unadulterated, caffeinated joy? We\u2019ve put together a fun list of how you can repurpose your coffee grounds \u2013 for the foodies, the green thumbs, the little ones at home and lovers of DIY. Kitchen Uses Coffee grounds are good for more than just brewing your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4916,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4916"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60221"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106024,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60221\/revisions\/106024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}