There it is.
That cup or so of beautiful, dark, organic coffee that sits leftover in my coffee pot every time I brew coffee. Staring at me. Pleading with me.
Have I mentioned I hate throwing food out?
That includes coffee.
Some of you might not be familiar with the concept of leftover coffee. Haha – I understand! I love coffee too. For me it’s an emotional experience. But somehow I always end up brewing a little more than I end up drinking, and since I’m the only one in the house who drinks it, I have to figure out something to do with the leftovers.
So, surely someone out there despises pouring coffee down the drain like I do. For those lucky peeps, I’ve decided to share my personal favorite leftover coffee uses, as well as some other uses I found from around the webs.
Because let’s face it: COFFEE. Too precious to throw down the drain.
16 Leftover Coffee Uses
- Coffee Ice Cubes – Pour that leftover coffee into some ice trays and store in the freezer. Then bust those ice cubes out any time you need to add some cool coffee flavor. Make your favorite smoothie or shake, add some cinnamon, cocoa powder, and some of those coffee ice cubes for a cool, energizing, mocha-flavored treat!
- Some claim that using the coffee ice cubes as a garbage disposal cleaner really works well! I haven’t tried it yet, but if you do, let me know!
- Hot Choc-offee? Yes, some people make hot chocolate using coffee instead of water or milk. 🙂 That’s a coffee-lover!
- Roast it – Yes, I bet you knew coffee was roasted. But I BET you didn’t know that you can add leftover coffee to your pot roast to make the gravy/broth richer and more flavorful! I learned this from watching a TV chef several years ago, and it’s a great way not to have to waste leftover coffee. Try it!
- You can also add it to soups or stews for great flavor.
- Toss it into the compost heap.
- Make Bulletproof Coffee Gummies with it – this is just genius friends. And super healthy, because this recipe includes grass-fed butter, coconut oil, and high-quality grass-fed gelatin which are all very healing to your body. Whip these up for a bite-size energy rush on the go! Find the recipe here.
- Water those acid-loving plants of yours with leftover coffee – they will love it!
- “Age” paper – you can create a stained look by painting the paper twice with strong leftover coffee, allowing it to dry with each application.
- Stain wood – click here to learn how to stain wood with leftover coffee, vinegar, and steel wool. Pretty cool.
- Since coffee stains wood, you can also rub it on wood scratches to bring a darker color back into the wood.
- Add to baked goods instead of water or milk. Why not? I would love some coffee-flavored muffins to go with my coffee-flavored coffee – and don’t forget the bacon. (But leave that one alone, it has its own great flavor. 😉 )
- Add leftover coffee in with your milk when making homemade ice cream. Mmmmm!!!
- Did you know you can temporarily dye your hair with coffee?
- Along the same lines, you can also make a homemade hair rinse with leftover coffee. See the above link for more information. And if you love natural hair care like that, you would love my Ultimate Natural Hair Care Directory. (<– shameless plug)
- Dye fabric – When I was a girl, my mom would age fabric using tea. Did you know coffee works just as well?
Pin it!
Did I miss any? Let me know how you use leftover coffee in the comments! Because I know my readers are totally resourceful. 🙂
Much leftover coffee love,
Dandy
I hear you! I hate throwing it out too! We use the grounds when my husband leaves out his protein shaker (which is every second day). If you wash it and then let the coffee grounds sit in water in the shaker overnight it takes away that rotten milk smell that never goes away! 🙂
That’s really cool Chantelle!!! I will have to remember that. That rotten milk smell is the worst!!!
MMM iced coffees from the ninja even got my teen into drinkin coffee… never throw it out!!!
I love coffee soo much that I could never waste it …. I have a big mug n I brew just enough to fill that cup n I drink it to the very last drop …
My favorite after dinner desert: pour coffee that has been reheated a couple of times and left to sit all day, over a big cup of ice cream. Blend to make a rich, delicious frozen Frostie!
A-mazing!!! Will have to try!
coffee is a great chili addition
Coffee flour (used) is excellent for orquids and to make ants move their colony.
Hey Danielle,
My name is Jim with Crucial Coffee. Awesome article thanks so much for posting. It’s always
good to hear about different methods to reuse and recycle. These are certainly innovative and creative methods indeed. I wanted to contact you to discuss some content and giveaway ideas with you.
We create a variety of replacement coffee parts that are fully reusable. Going green is kind of our thing. Does the idea of running a giveaway for your audience with us sound appealing? The prize could be a pound of their favorite type of coffee, or a reusable filter for their preferred type of brew method. Perhaps some sponsored content that we could write and promote?
Coffee is a passion of ours, and we’re all about providing a better and fun experience for coffee lovers from coffee lovers.
If this pitch isn’t right for you at the moment, thanks again for your time and consideration Danielle. Hope you have a great day.
Jim Thompson
James@CrucialVacuum.com
http://www.CrucialCoffeeSupply.com
Thanks for sharing this valuable info. I am a coffee lover. It is really very helpful post for me. I should try to follow your all tips. These tips are really very good and very useful for us.
Using coffee grounds as a body scrub gets rid of dead skin cells, the oils moisturize and the caffeine helps temporarily firm your skin! Great to use before a beach or pool outing… Or a special night with the hubby 😉
Awesome tips Jessica! Thanks for sharing!
I use my coffee ice cubes in my homemade ice coffee along wiht condensed milk and cold coffee
With#
How about using that leftover coffee as a poo pouree (sp?). The oil acts just like the expensive oils and it's already diluted
Cool! 🙂
Hey there Danielle, I used to pour down the leftover coffee that I had until i realized that I could make something out of it. However, you have covered lots of uses, some that I had never heard of before. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Cindy
What should I do with said leftover coffee if I am not freezing it into cubes until I’m ready to make ice cream, baked goods or pot roast? Store it in the fridge or what?
I’d store it in the fridge, but probably only for a day or so.
Iced coffee the next day is good as well
or make your own star bucks frozen coffee with the leftovers as well . But your ideas were great thanks for sharing .
Those are great ideas, too, Lisa! Thanks for sharing!
add to your homemade bbq sauce! Cake batter (texas sheet cake)
I use it for cleaning up the glass surface unit of my stove … cleans the glass up so well …
So cool!