Tell me more ×
Seasoned Advice is a question and answer site for professional and amateur chefs. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 12 down vote favorite

Besides using it as a fertilizer, how else can I reuse my coffee grounds?

share|improve this question

12 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

cooking wise, they're so bitter/burnt. The water already took the good flavor out of them and left the crap behind.

From the previous answers, it seems that using coffee as an abrasive or any other way will require a clean up after using the grinds, which in my opinion makes them useless.

share|improve this answer
up vote 6 down vote

An actual culinary application for used grounds: http://www.instructables.com/id/Gourmet-mushrooms-in-an-old-coffee-cup/

Grow mushrooms in them.

share|improve this answer
up vote 4 down vote

You can put it in a small dish inside your refrigerator. It will kill bad smalls and leaves a nice coffee smell. Note: Baking powder also works fine but without leaving any smell.

share|improve this answer
up vote 3 down vote

Kills ants...dump them on the ant colony and they will die.

share|improve this answer
My understanding is that coffee grounds are a natural ant repellent, not a pesticide. – Nick Jul 19 '10 at 13:16
Repellent as pesticide, that made me laugh. – QueueHammer Aug 27 '10 at 13:00
1  
Well it does not kill them, so no +1 for you, but otherwise that's what my mother did. – Camilo Martin Jan 11 '12 at 6:37
up vote 3 down vote

Great body scrub!)

share|improve this answer
6  
And your geek husband/wife will think you are SO sexy. No, really, they will. – JustRightMenus Jul 19 '10 at 13:11
up vote 2 down vote

Put it in your ashtray and it will eliminate the smell.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

A friend of mine (who lived in a van) always used it as a replacement for soap when washing hands. Seemed to work quite well :)

share|improve this answer
a homebrewed GoJoJoe? – mfg Aug 9 '10 at 15:34
up vote 1 down vote

It's supposed to keep cats from crapping in your yard. Just toss it on the ground and apparantly they'll take their business elsewhere.

share|improve this answer
1  
My cat seems to like the smell of coffee. He hasn't attempted to do his business in it, mind you, but I'm skeptical of it working as a repellent. – Aaronut♦ Jul 19 '10 at 13:45
Well, it could simply be one of those old wives' tales, I guess. My mother in law was the one suggesting this, so who knows... :P – Ruben Steins Jul 20 '10 at 6:42
up vote 0 down vote

It's an abrasive. As long as you don't mind the coffee smell/stain, you can use it to clean and polish surfaces.

share|improve this answer
2  
That's a bit of a paradox surely? "you don't mind the coffee smell/stain, you can use it to clean" – Rowland Shaw Jul 19 '10 at 11:18
1  
You can use it e.g. to remove crud and irregularities from stainless steel surfaces. The coffee can then be washed off with some water. – drxzcl Jul 19 '10 at 14:07
up vote 0 down vote

For those who collect kitchen scraps for composting, used coffee grounds are a great deodorizer for your compost pail, especially in large quantities (like if you do a batch of cold brew).

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I myself use it as a universal scrub. Coffee grounds are much softer than the mineral abrasive or crushed apricot seed scrubs, and (unlike the latter two) it does not cause skin irritation, at least for me.

I typically wash it to remove tiny particles (so that it does not stain the tub so much) and then soak it in diluted hydrogen peroxide in a refrigerator until I need it.

share|improve this answer
up vote -1 down vote

A friend flushed them in the sink, he said that it cleans the pipes. But then I don't really know if it's true except his sink never got stuck. But that's not a proof!

share|improve this answer
1  
My apartment lease has a clause warning that against dumping coffee grounds down the drain and that they will charge us if our coffee grounds plug anything up. – Shannon Severance Jul 19 '10 at 15:34
@Shannon, well I don't know what list is shortest, all the things you can dump in the drain, or all the things you can't dump. In both cases I wouldn't sign the lease :) – HeDinges Jul 19 '10 at 15:38
1  
Coffee grounds clogged up a sink at work, so I'd say its probably a bad idea. – derobert Jul 19 '10 at 16:05
3  
It's a very, very bad idea to flush them down the sink. If you do that or try to get yam skins trough the food disposal, get a wet / dry vac, open the drain below the sink and use duct tape to connect the vacuum to the drain pipe and suck it out. I know from personal experience -- both the yam peals and the coffee grinds. – Adam S Feb 3 '11 at 3:53

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.