We make a pot of coffee everyday which means that we have a filter full of used coffee grounds everyday. Since we have a septic tank and we don’t want the grounds to build up a sludge inside the tank, we don’t rinse these down the drain. That leaves me curious and looking for uses other than simply tossing them in the garbage can. Over the years, I’ve found a long list of really excellent uses for these grounds.
Occasionally we will make a second pot of coffee. Since the grounds are already in the filter, I put about 1/2 the usual amount of new grounds right on top of the freshly used ones. It still makes a very good cup of coffee, although not as excellent as that first, smooth, deeply flavored first cup of the morning. Could just be that I’m not as groggy and my taste buds are fully awake by the time we start on the second pot of coffee, though.
It’s nice that the second pot of coffee costs half the price of the first pot. That is a savings of $.50 to $.75, depending on how strong we want the coffee. * If we did this everyday, and still enjoyed the second pot of coffee, the savings would add up nicely.
Beyond that, we have many other excellent uses for the grounds. The one I use most often is to sprinkle them around the rhododendron bush and the blueberry bushes as a mild acid-enriched fertilizer and as a general nitrogen-enhancing additive for the rest of the garden.
Probably the next best use is as an exfolliator and cellulite reducing beauty treatment. Messy, messy, messy, but possibly very nice results. Do an allergy test first if you are going to try this.
I’ve posted an article on The Fat Dollar site, 26 Uses for Used Coffee Grounds … -including using them for repairing scratches in wood, as a scrubbing agent when cleaning, making a treasure stone for the kids, a pesticide, natural deodorizer, a hair rinse … and more!
It feels great to keep something out of your septic tank or landfills and at the same time make a money-saving, very effective use for it. That’s exactly what you can do when you have a second use for your used coffee grounds and that’s The Fat Dollar way!
Don’t forget to have fun finding new uses for the grounds. If you have another use for them, share it with us in the comments below. Thanks!
Patti
Article references: Uses for Used Coffee Grounds – The Fat Dollar
Brewing Best Practices – SCAA of America
* Pricing – Copper Moon World Coffee Hawaiian Hazelnut from Sam’s Club – 2.5 lb for $14.98 – we use 1.75 to 3.0 oz per pot of coffee. Not including the water, electricity or wear on the coffee maker, a pot of coffee will cost between $.78 to $1.41, depending on how strong we want the coffee.
The NCAUSA recommends 1-2 Tablespoons of ground coffee for every 6 ounces of water. This would be 10-21 tablespoons of coffee for each 64 oz pot of coffee. Note that 21 tablespoons would make a very strong cup of coffee! We personally use 10-12 tablespoons of coffee for a 12 cup coffee pot.