How To Reuse Coffee Grounds and Get the Most Out of Them

Reusing something as simple as coffee grounds might be a new idea to some. After all, they’re just a byproduct of one of the world’s favorite beverages. But there are numerous ways to use those leftover grounds, from home and garden to skin care.

Whether you make brewed coffee or espresso, you will likely find at least a couple of good uses for your leftover beans on this list.

Repairing Furniture

We know what you are thinking. Repairing furniture? This is an interesting trick that you likely haven’t heard of. If you notice small dents and scratches in your furniture, you should consider using coffee ground paste on them. The paste sets in the dent or scratch for about 10 minutes.

You simply combine the grounds with water to make a paste. Don’t add too much water! Fill the dent or scratch with the paste and let it sit as described. As you clean the grounds out, they will buff down the polish and dye the exposed wood darker to match the rest of the furniture.

Exfoliating Your Skin

Caffeine is great for boosting blood flow when you apply it to the skin. With this tactic, you will notice improved shine on your skin. All exfoliation is bound to help with your complexion, but this type of exfoliation also plumps the skin a little bit.

Simply put some coffee grounds on your sponge and scrub, taking care to keep the grounds out of your eyes. Since they are pre-cooked, they should exfoliate without scratching too hard. The caffeine will add a touch of pink to your skin if you scrub well enough.

Stripping Hair of Buildup

Hair gets all kinds of buildup in it. If you want to remove it, you often have to buy a stripping shampoo or other special cleanser. But you can take the organic route with coffee grounds.

Use about half a cup of grounds on your scalp. You can either rinse with cold water, which always improves hair’s shine, or shampoo the grounds out. Either one will remove buildup and add sheen to your hair.

Fertilizing the Garden

Coffee grounds help fertilize all soils. Simply till the grounds in with a hand till, or make a mulch pile that you work through with a large shovel once a week or so.

You want to make sure that the coffee gets blended with the soil well. Don’t dump your grounds in hot, as it can burn the roots of plants. Let them cool down to at least room temperature.

Grounds are beneficial for all plants that need strong nitrogen addition (i.e. not dahlias or other plants that need slow-release nitrogen). But they are a really great booster for root vegetables like carrots and beets.

Making Compost

Besides working in the garden by themselves, coffee grounds offer a lot of benefits toward making nitrogen-rich compost. The goal with compost is to break down the materials all the way, and coffee grounds do just that.

Make sure you turn the compost and mix it if you add these grounds so they can do their job.

If you are into earthworm compost, this is an even better idea. Earthworms eat the grounds straight with no harm. Your beans do double duty if you make this kind of compost.

Scrubbing Pots and Pans

Just like they exfoliate skin, old beans get rid of gunk on pots and pans with ease. Just take a scrubber to the pan with a good amount of grounds on it, and watch the grease melt away.

Deodorizing Hands After Cooking

Onions and garlic are strong-smelling, although they are essential in so much food. To deodorize your hands after you cut these veggies up, rub your hands in some coffee grounds. Presto! The smell will be gone.

Deodorizing Garbage Cans

To deodorize garbage cans, you can leave a few grounds in the bottom of the bag. Or you can tie a cheesecloth filled with grounds to the top of the can. Either way (or both) will work.

Deodorizing Shoes

To rid shoes of their odor, you simply put dried-out used coffee grounds in the soles and leave them overnight. Shake the grounds out the next morning. You may want to give the shoes a light vacuum.

This is a nice organic alternative to powders or strong chemicals.

Deodorizing Refrigerators

Many people use baking soda to deodorize their refrigerator. But you can work with coffee grounds as well. Simply put a cup or two of grounds in a cheesecloth and leave it in the door or the back of the refrigerator.

Get Stray Cats Out of Your Garden

Many people love cats, but they don’t necessarily love the toxic scat in their garden! If you’ve got strays in your garden, you can get rid of them. All you have to do is sprinkle the used grounds around and not till them in. Make sure to blend the grounds with orange peel first.

Dye Your Clothes

Coffee grounds make a fabulous dye. It can be used to make clothes look vintage in lesser amounts. In high concentration it turns whites a nice brown. You can use the grounds straight or mixed with black tea.

It’s a good idea to look for something called mordant to make the dye stick. It will make a light dye without mordant, but with mordant the color will be much richer. People use various mordants. Alum, oak gall, or iron sulfate are all good for this type of dye.

Alum is usually an easy one to get at the grocery store.

Repel Pests

Pests do not like the strong smell of coffee grounds. You can sprinkle them around the base of trees or even the foundation of your house. Easy as can be!

Clean the Drain

You can use the grainy texture of the grounds to get many drains clean. Boil the used grounds in hot water and pour the mixture down the sink. As a bonus, this is a deodorizer also.

As a final note, some people like to make crafts with their used coffee grounds. They can become fake dirt, filling for centerpieces, or even just a DIY air freshener.

More commonly, people use the grounds to tint paper for collage or scrapbooking. Who knew that used beans could be so useful?