5 Clever Ways to Use Leftover Coffee Grounds by Kristopher Loosemore

My morning usually starts after I have set up my french press for coffee. I grind my beans for 12 ounces of coffee, heat water to pour over the freshly ground beans, and pour the water over the beans. Steam rises to meet me like it's saying 'Good morning!' and the smell puts a smile on my face.

While the beans steep, I brush my teeth, get my breakfast ready, and sit down for my usual morning ritual. Then I push the strainer down and pour my cup of coffee. The coffee is usually just hot enough to warm me but doesn't scald my tongue. Sippable but not burnable. A good cup of coffee is how I wake up almost every morning.

Making coffee every morning usually entails coffee grounds. Whether you grind your coffee beans in the morning or you have them pre-ground straight from the bag, you are bound to have used-up coffee grounds. Instead of tossing this seemingly useless by-product of everyone's favorite morning beverage, save them!

There are many ways to be able to use your leftover coffee ground. Here are some of the most clever that I know about:

1. BBQ or Meat Rubs:

My favorite way to use leftover coffee grounds is to use it as dry rubs for meat. Using the coffee beans this way requires a little more work since you have to dry the coffee beans again before you mix them with your other spices.

There are, however, way more benefits to doing this. First, coffee is naturally acidic. Rubbing your meat with something that can balance out any over-zealous sweet flavorings is always a benefit. Second, the acidic nature of coffee helps enhance the flavors in your meat. The coffee gives your meat an entirely new depth of flavor. And last but not least, enzymes in the coffee grounds help tenderize your meat. Tenderizing with coffee ensures that your cooked piece of meat isn't a cooked piece of leather.

I like to use dark roast coffee, like Adventurous Coffee Peruvian Dark Roast, for beef and medium roast coffee, like Adventurous Coffee Mexican Altura Medium Roast, for pork. Check them out!

2. Grow Mushrooms

I learned about growing mushrooms from a good friend of mine in Alaska. He uses coffee grounds to grow mushrooms by mixing a mushroom spore and sawdust mixture with your leftover coffee grounds. You can usually find the mushroom spore sawdust at most local gardening shops. The sawdust mixture is generally labeled as 'sawdust spawn.'

Here is a recipe I found online through Healthline:

How to Grow Mushrooms in Used Coffee Grounds

Collect about 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg) of grounds and moisten them using a spray bottle. Add a little over 1 pound (500 grams) of mushroom spore and sawdust mixture and mix well. You can look for this product at your local gardening store. Place the resulting mixture into a filter patch grow bag, large freezer bag or bucket and fill until approximately one-half to two-thirds full. Cut four air holes, about 5 mm in size, into the sides of your container above the grounds. If you are using an open container, cover it with cellophane and poke with a few more small air holes. Lightly spray the grounds with water once daily or as needed to keep them moist. In about two to four weeks when you start to see dense white areas with little budding mushrooms, move the container to an area with lighter and fresher air. When the mushrooms become plump and their caps turn upward, you can harvest them.

You can use this method to grow just about any kind of mushroom, but shiitake and oyster varieties seem to be the easiest.

3. Fertilizing Your Garden

Since you can use old coffee grounds to grow mushrooms, why not use it to grow other foods? Coffee grounds make an excellent addition to strengthening your garden compost.

Adding roughly 40% leftover coffee beans to your compost before you add it to your garden creates some of the best quality compost that you can get your hands on. Coffee grounds have a lot of nutrients in them so it helps the soil stay healthy for your vegetables.

*Note: if you use this tip, make sure it is a dark roast, such as the Adventurous Coffee Peruvian Dark Roast, and do not use fresh coffee grounds instead of the old, used-up coffee grounds. A darker roast usually yields less caffeine, which has been known to suppress growth in other plants. Using old dark roast coffee gives your soil less caffeine and more acidic values.

4. Eliminate Odors

Drying your leftover coffee grounds on a flat pan can not only give you a great base for a meat rub but it can also give you a way to eliminate odors from your fridge. Coffee grounds naturally soak up odors in fridges, which is why it isn't recommended that you store your consumable coffee in the refrigerator. But why not use your old coffee grounds to soak up lingering smells in your fridge?

All you have to do is dry the beans on the counter overnight and put them into a bowl. Then put the dried, old coffee grounds in the back of your refrigerator! They will likely have to be changed out a couple times a month.

5. Smelly Garlic Hands

We have already learned that coffee grounds can soak up odors. You can use this technique for another use: by rubbing old coffee grounds on your hands after chopping onions or garlic. Just keep a jar of dried, used-up coffee grounds on your sink and rub your hands after doing your meal prep. Then just was your hands with soap and water and your hands will be odor-free!

Do you have any other clever uses for old coffee grounds? We would love to hear about them! Comment below!