Can coffee grounds be reused to brew more coffee?

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Everyone has thought it at some point, they throw away these coffee grounds every day (multiple times a day) and they just wish they could use it a second time. Sound like you? Read on.

So, is it possible to reuse coffee grounds for a second brew of your favorite coffee? It is possible to use coffee grounds to brew a second cup, but there are a few downsides that come with doing something like this. Namely the lack of flavor the coffee will offer, and if you use it longer than a day, you will find bacteria and mold.

If you’re someone who just doesn’t like a waste, then perhaps you’re going to be more than fine with some of the negatives that come along with rebrewing used coffee grounds.

There will be a flavor change in your coffee

If you’re someone who absolutely loves the taste of their coffee, and you’re not just drinking it to give yourself a caffeine boost so you can smash your to-do lists, then I would suggest against reusing your coffee beans.

The second cup you brew with these grounds is almost definitely going to taste nothing like the first one you made.

Personally, I would never reuse them more than twice either, as your coffee grounds are eventually going to have no taste to them, and you’re essentially just drinking weird-tasting hot water.

So, if you’re looking for that second, third, fourth, or even fifth pick-me-up throughout your day, you’re best off using brand new coffee grounds instead.

With this being said, if you’re someone who likes to add a lot of sugar to their coffee, you might be able to get away with using your coffee grounds that second or even third time, as you won’t really notice a difference.

Don’t reuse your grounds a day or more after brewing them

Reusing coffee grounds more than once a day as established is only a good idea if you’re not really a coffee nerd and you’re just looking for a pick-me-up.

But reusing them a whole day or two after initially brewing them is a terrible idea and you should not do it.

Ever.

Even if you’re all out of coffee, you’re just going to have to get on with your day without it.

The reason for this is because moist soggy coffee grounds are the ideal breeding area for things like bacteria and fungi, which obviously isn’t going to be very nice for taste nor for your body as a whole.

The bottom line

So, you can reuse your coffee grounds if you want too but I recommend you only do this once or twice max if you still care about having some form of good taste when drinking your cup of joe in the morning.

But do not ever reuse them after a whole day of first brewing them, as they will be full of bacteria and mold.

Other uses for used coffee grounds

You might be disappointed that you can’t really use coffee again and again, and whether you just care about saving money or you’re just trying to make the most of everything you buy, by reusing as much as you can, there are some other uses you can get out of your used coffee grounds.

You can use coffee grounds in your very own garden

Coffee grounds are naturally acidic, even if they’ve been in your cup once or twice to give you some decent tasting coffee, they can be leveraged as an alternative artificial fertilizer for your beloved plants and flowers.

Alternatively, you can use them to prevent insects from ruining your garden, by placing them in a clean empty egg shell, they will help to stand guard and make sure no insects trespass.

You can remove bad smells with coffee grounds

Coffee grounds can make great air fresheners if you want to use something a little more natural than whatever they put in your typical can of air freshener at the supermarket.

Simply, they just make your house smell good, that is of course if you don’t mind the smell of coffee; as some people surprisingly don’t.

If you’ve got a weird smell coming from your fridge, you can simply place your coffee grounds in there and that will remove the bad odor in no time.

Of course, if you want to just get your home smelling clean, you can leave them around the home to give your house that fresh coffee smell.

For this option, I would highly recommend drying out the beans first, so that we don’t run into that mold issue we were talking about earlier.

Improve your skin and complexion

They have been used many, many times in the beauty industry to solve skin and complexion-related issues, following the right guide you could make them work for yourself too, making them become a staple in your skincare routine.

Essentially, coffee grounds can make you feel AND look good!

They also can also be used as a facial cleanser, which helps to remove dead skin, a great alternative if you’re someone who likes to make sure everything they use in life is completely organic.

Coffee grounds work great on wooden furniture

With the right guide at hand, coffee grounds can be used as a great wood furniture polisher, which will help to bring life back into any old wooden furniture that hasn’t had some love shown to it in a while.

Again, this is another great way to save a bit of extra money on something you were probably going to throw into the bin anyway.

On top of this, you can mix some coffee grounds with olive oil which can make wood scratches completely disappear, although it appears that online people are torn whether or not this really works.

Though it’s worth a try just to make sure you’re not throwing something like this away.

Conclusion

As mentioned, you can and perhaps should use your coffee grounds more than once if you don’t mind having a weaker tasting coffee if you want to do your bit for the environment (as well as your bank account) with little to no effort.

But if you just can’t stand having a weaker coffee to get you through your day, there are still some great alternatives that you can use coffee grounds for as mentioned above.

Meaning that at the very least you can get extra use out of something that you would have been throwing in the trash anyway.

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