7 Ways to Use Leftover Coffee Grounds

Every phin brew leaves you with a puck of used grounds. Don't bin them. Used coffee grounds are genuinely useful around the house and garden. Here are seven ways to get a second life out of every cup.

1. Exfoliate your skin

Coffee grounds are a great natural exfoliant. The texture lifts dead skin cells and gets the blood moving. Mix grounds with a little olive or coconut oil, rub gently in circles, rinse. That's a body scrub for free.

2. Kill fridge smells

Grounds absorb odours. A small open container of dried grounds in the fridge neutralises whatever last week's leftovers are doing. Works in shoes too: dry grounds in an old sock or sachet, leave overnight.

3. Feed your garden

Grounds are rich in nitrogen and improve soil structure and water retention. Sprinkle straight onto the garden or add to compost. Acid-loving plants like hydrangeas, azaleas and blueberries appreciate them most.

4. Deter insects

Ants and many crawling insects dislike coffee. A ring of grounds around outdoor seating or garden beds acts as a mild natural repellent. Not a forcefield, but it helps.

5. Scrub stubborn pots

The gritty texture makes grounds a surprisingly effective abrasive for baked-on pans and greasy dishes. A spoonful on a cloth, scrub, rinse well. Skip this one on anything porous or light-coloured that could stain.

6. Make natural dye

Boil grounds and use the liquid to tint paper or fabric a warm, rustic brown. Great for craft projects, aged-paper effects, or dyeing eggs.

7. Coffee-scented candles

Mix dried grounds into candle wax for a homemade candle with a genuine roasted-coffee aroma. A good use for the grounds from a particularly good brew.

One tip across all of these: dry your grounds first by spreading them on a tray, otherwise they'll go mouldy. And of course, the better the coffee going in, the better everything smells. Brew a Buffalo Robusta through your phin filter, enjoy the cup, then put the puck to work.