How to use up coffee grounds

Celeste Wong

Published: December 11, 2023 at 4:36 PM

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Still throwing your leftover coffee grounds in the bin? olive's coffee expert Celeste Wong shares her top ways to use up coffee grounds, including a homemade exfoliator

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Want to learn more about coffee, but don't know where to start? Get advice from olive’s expert, Celeste Wong. Read below for ways to use up your leftover coffee grounds, including helping your plants to thrive and making a homemade body scrub.

After, discover Celeste's guide to buying the best beans at home as well as how to read a coffee label, how to taste coffee, how to order coffee and how to store coffee. You can also check out her guides for how to make pour-over coffee, how to use a French press, how to use a moka pot and how to use an Aeropress. For perfecting your lattes, check out our guide on how to do latte art.

How to use up coffee grounds

Use coffee grounds as compost

Don’t waste your used coffee grounds. Throw them in the garden. Plants thrive from the nitrate in the soil. If you are lucky enough to have a veg garden (or have just started one), you can add your used coffee grounds to your green compost or as a fertiliser by just throwing it on top of the soil. As compost, it helps to add nitrogen to your pile, and as a fertiliser it is good for aeration, water retention and drainage, as well as encouraging microorganisms that aid plant growth. It will lower the pH levels so is great for plants that thrive in more acidic soil – such as radishes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, parsley, rhubarb... the list goes on. Also, used coffee filters can be composted.

Create a used coffee grounds exfoliator

You can also mix used coffee grinds with epsom salts, brown sugar and some olive or avocado oil for a body exfoliator.

Listen to Celeste on the olive podcast, where she shares expert advice on choosing beans, brewing methods and even how the time you drink it can improve your experience!