With the price of everything rising, many people are unsurprisingly looking for more ways to save money where they can. The notion of reusing coffee grounds at home for a second tasty brew may seem like a thrifty option, but what are the realities?
Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds for a Second Cup?
Although it is a reasonable thought, we do not recommend reusing your coffee grounds to make subsequent cups of coffee after the initial pour.
Once you use your coffee grounds the first time, most of the chemicals and oils that were present have already been extracted. By reusing them, you will achieve a poor, bitter-tasting cup of coffee.
The main reason not to brew your coffee grounds twice is all to do with the extraction process. The brilliant coffee taste we all know and love is created by hot water dissolving the coffee grounds, oils, and flavour compounds as they all mix together in the water, producing the delicious coffee flavour.
Once the compounds have been extracted from the coffee grounds, they are gone. Reusing the same coffee grounds will create a cup of coffee with a completely different taste from the original cup.
How Many Times Can Coffee Ground Be Reused?
When it comes to drinking, we would advice using your batch of coffee grounds only once. Any cups after this can be undesirable for a few reasons.
- Extraction process is complete: The desirable oils and compounds have already been extracted in your first cup.
- Weak flavour: Because extraction has already taken place, subsequent cups will taste weak and watery, lacking that bold coffee punch.
- Reduced caffeine: As with the above points, you'll also be getting less caffeine in your next cup – not ideal if you're relying on pick-me-up!
- Health & safety: Coffee grounds that have been sat around can also be a hotbed for bacteria, making them riskier to consume than fresh grounds.
What to Do with Used Coffee Grounds
Although we don’t recommend reusing your coffee grounds to make another drink, there are a couple of other ways coffee grounds can be reused and recycled. So, if you’re looking to get more out of them, we might just have the perfect opportunities for you to do so!
1. Make Coffee Exfoliating Scrub
Who doesn’t love to look after their skin, and what better way to do so than with your used coffee grounds? Keeping your skin vibrant and healthy all comes down to an exfoliator. Turning your coffee grounds into an exfoliating scrub is simple and a brilliant way to save money.
Ground coffee has a good consistency to use in a scrub, but be sure to use medium to fine coffee grounds – you don’t want your scrub to be too harsh from coarse grounds; this could do more harm than good for the skin.
All you need to do is mix your used coffee grounds with vanilla extract, coconut oil and brown sugar. This will create a great-smelling scrub that will keep your skin shining.
2. Use Coffee Grounds in the Garden
When it comes to gardening, coffee grounds can be used in a variety of ways.
Acidic Soil
Coffee is a highly acidic product which some plants love! Reusing coffee grounds as a fertiliser can help to create a healthy garden by mixing your used coffee grounds with your usual planting soil.
What Plants are Coffee Grounds Good For?
There are many plants that thrive off of acidic products, including:
- Magnolias
- Rhododendrons
- Camellias
- Azaleas
- Pieris
- Heathers
- Ferns
- Hydrangeas
However, you do need to be careful, as some plants will not tolerate acidic soil.
3. Use Coffee Grounds as Insect Repellent
Coffee grounds can also be used to repel insects such as slugs and snails. Keep your plants healthy and protected by sprinkling your old, used grounds around your plants. This can stop them from being devoured and damaged.
4. Make Lawn Fertiliser
Not only are coffee grounds good for fertilising soil for plants, but they are also great for the lawn. The nutrients in coffee grounds are slowly broken down, giving the grass more time to absorb them, ensuring stronger grass for longer. Lawn fertiliser is also great for the worms – they love the taste of coffee just as much as we do!
Ultimately, for the best coffee, stick to using your grounds once – no one wants a disappointing-tasting coffee. However, this doesn’t mean coffee grounds have to go straight in the bin!
For expert, barista-approved coffee, visit one of our coffee shops in the UK and indulge in everything your local Esquires offers.
