7 Green Ways to Reuse Coffee Grounds

When thinking about how to keep the earth a cleaner, greener place, recycling automatically comes to mind. And one of the best ways to recycle coffee is to turn it back into the earth.

Composting helps divert waste from landfills, reducing the amount of energy and resources used to dispose of them and potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Coffee grounds can be composted along with fruit and vegetable scraps. The worms in compost piles love coffee grounds as much as food scraps, and they’ll break it all down into nutrient-rich soil which can be used to grow plants in your garden. 

Beyond composting, your Majestic Blends coffee grounds can also be reused in several different ways. Here are just a few ways to reduce waste and recycle your coffee:

Under Eye Treatment

Caffeine has anti-inflammatory properties and can help reduce swelling when applied topically. So you can apply it under the eyes to reduce puffiness. 

Mix coffee grounds with a teaspoon of coconut oil and a little water and carefully apply under the eyes. Let sit for 5 minutes and wipe away with a soft, damp cloth. 

Hair Exfoliant

Like a good body scrub, coffee grounds are an excellent exfoliant that can prep your hair for deeper cleaning. Before you soap up with shampoo, you can add coffee grounds as a hair exfoliant to remove excess dirt and oils.

Pest Repellant

While we might love caffeine, bugs hate it! That’s one of the reasons why coffee plants contain caffeine — to repel insects. 

If you tend to get a lot of flies or mosquitos bothering you when you’re sitting outside in your backyard, you can spread your used coffee on the ground to keep them away. Used coffee grounds will also repel destructive garden pests such as ants, snails, and slugs. 

Food Odor Remover

You don’t want to store your coffee in the refrigerator because it will absorb odors. But once you’ve brewed your coffee, you can have the used grounds as a fridge or freezer odor absorber. 

Just load a small, open container with old grounds and place it in the back of the refrigerator or freezer for a couple of weeks. Once they’ve absorbed all the smells, you can remove them and toss them into your compost pile.

Home Cleansing Scrub 

While used coffee grounds are abrasive, they aren’t so harsh that they will damage the surfaces in your kitchen. Instead, they’ll help give it a good shine. 

You can sprinkle old grounds onto a cleaning cloth and use them to scrub away stuck-on food on dishes or to cleanse counters. 

Creative Cooking 

The acidity in coffee helps tenderize brisket, steak, and other cuts of meat. So it’s a great addition as a dry rub before you grill or slow-roast barbecue your choice cuts. The coffee will add a nice bark to the meat without imparting any coffee flavor. 

Coffee grounds can also add flavor and dimension to chilis and stews, or to enhance chocolate cake or biscotti.

Majestic Blends was inspired by the majesty of the Pacific Northwest, where clean rivers, snow-covered peaks and wild places are nothing short of American icons. We aim to keep our coffee as sustainable and green as possible -- from the farm to your table. That's why we only buy Grade 1 Organic coffee from fair-trade coffee farms. We hand roast our coffee in small batches and use recyclable packaging.

As members of 1% for the Planet, we give back a portion of our profits to organizations that support the environment. It's just another part of what we do to keep our coffee greener and more sustainable -- so we can keep the wild places wild. From where the coffee is grown to where Bigfoot calls home. 

Fuel all of your adventures with Majestic Blends.