Coffee is Good for More Than Just a Wakeup Call

This is a guest post by Kyle Simpson. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee here.

You may think that there’s no better use for your morning cup of joe than its recuperative properties. Sure you’ve used it in cooking (a cup of coffee in chocolate cake mix adds mocha flavor as well as moisture) and you even picked up some freezer forms to make coffee-flavored ice cubes for cooler versions of your morning fix. But coffee (the grounds, in particular) has all sorts of uses you may not know about, from cleaning and scrubbing to helping your garden grow. So rather than simply throwing away the leftovers of your morning brew, read on to find out how your coffee can be used and re-used in and around your home.

1. Put it in soil. Instead of tossing your used coffee in the trash, put your grounds in the ground as an acid-heavy fertilizer. You may notice improvement in the growth of many of your plants, but it is particularly effective for enhancing both the size and number of carrots and radishes. As an added bonus, it may help to ward off pests like animals and insects that can destroy your crops.
2. Use it as an abrasive. If you don’t want to use chemical cleaners to scour out pots and pans, scrub them with a sponge and some coffee grounds as a green alternative for cleaning your cookware.
3. Deodorize smelly items. Coffee is great for absorbing unwanted odors, so dry your used grounds thoroughly, place them in a breathable container (like old pantyhose or folded tinfoil with some holes poked in it) and put it near the trash to soak up stinky food smells. You can also place these odor-absorbing packages in your fridge and freezer in lieu of baking soda (although they probably won’t last more than a month). Or you can simply dump loose grounds in your garbage disposal for similar results.
4. Soften your skin. Don’t spend money on expensive scrubs to soften your hands, elbows, and heels. Simply combine coffee grounds with a bit of olive oil and rub the mixture onto rough or scaly patches to leave your skin smooth as a baby’s. You can also use grounds on your face as a mask (to reduce puffiness) by mixing them with an egg-white and leaving on for a few minutes.
5. Stain, stain, stain. You know what coffee can do to your teeth over time (as your dentist keeps telling you) so why not use the permeating effects of coffee as a natural dye for items like nude-wood furniture, homemade paper, and clothing. Just be aware that if you make coffee-stained t-shirts, the color will bleed, so you may not want to wash them with your whites.

*Don’t forget, you can also find many other uses for your coffee filters, as well, such as a lint-free cleaner for glass, mirrors, and lenses, a buffer between plates, a liner for plant pots, in place of cheese-cloth, to make a sachet, as a tea bag, or when packing delicate items like ornaments.

Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Billing and Coding Online where you can find more information about a career in medical billing and coding.

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Photo by rjg329.

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