Forum home› Tools and techniques
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Using coffee grounds from cafetiere

ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
in Tools and techniques
We drink several pots of decaff coffee every day, with quite a quantity of grounds to get rid of. When the weather is nice, I can pop out of the kitchen door and swill the grounds out of the cafetière round a plant or two. Usually takes a couple of trips though, and no fun in the winter. Anyone got a tried, tested and tidy method of saving coffee grounds in the kitchen for use round plants? I don’t really want a bucket of slops sitting around ready to be accidentally knocked over!
«1

Posts

  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I used to spread mine out on a tray in the sun and let them dry ( alternatively on a tray in the GH ).  You can then bag them up and use whenever you want.  
  • SYinUSASYinUSA Posts: 243
    I use a plastic tub (I think it was a takeaway container for soup) and dump the grounds in there. It takes several weeks for me to fill it up, but it is closed tight in the meantime so it doesn't stink. I am the only coffee drinker in the house, and I use a moka pot so I don't have the quantity of wet grounds that you might. 
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Coffee (and tea) leftovers have a darkening effect on the soil, as well as improving the structure of it.  The darker the soil, the more it absorbs warmth which, in turn, improves germination in the spring.  All good.
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    Our coffee grounds go on the compost heap, along with most other uncooked vegetable kitchen waste. 
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    I’m currently trialing a cereal bowl on the worktop by the sink, and am using a silicon spatula to scrape the grounds out of the cafetière into it. Doesn’t look too bad, but quite frightening to see how much I’ve been emptying down the plughole! When we put a new kitchen in last year, OH replumbed the waste outlet with a decent downhill slope, the old horizontal pipe was pretty clogged up, probably with coffee grounds!
     Next task is to work out how to save the water I use to swill out the cafetière. I already have a watering can in the kitchen to collect the cold water run out when I want to use the hot tap. I do like to only use clean water in that though, as it gets used for the bird bath as well as plants. Looks like I may need a second container for coffee swills! I didn’t make allowances for all this in the kitchen design!
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I too put mine in the compost.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I add a bit of cold water to the cafetière… swirl the grounds around in it and walk about ten steps to just outside the back door where I tip it out onto the soil around Rosa Bonica and Clem Astra Nova.  They thank me for it nicely 😊 
     
    … and no additional clutter in the kitchen … there’s enough already 🤪 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    Food recycle or down the sink.

    They have very little nutritional value.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2022
    Down the sink? 😧 … please no … we don’t need any more pressure on our overloaded sewage systems. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I agree, no tea or coffee down the sink please. I collect used tea bags in a plastic container and when it's full, split the bags and put the contents around my roses.
    When we make 'proper' coffee, I wouldn't dream of swilling the grounds down the sink, they get scrapped into my under the sink compost bin.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
Sign In or Register to comment.