The experience of preparing and enjoy a wonderful coffee It is further improved if you recycle or reuse the grounds. A lot of waste is generated with our coffee consumption!
The figures speak for themselves: In Spain, 14,000 million cups of coffee are drunk a yearwhich implies a consumption of 4.5 kg per year per person. Now imagine the amount of waste we each generate just by drinking coffee!
The pot coffee of great-grandparents, that of simple domestic coffee makers and the Italian ones only generate grounds, but Modern capsules, if they are not purchased compostable, are an ecological problem.
Here we will see how we can reuse both the grounds and the capsules in the orchard or garden, to reduce waste and take advantage of the benefits that coffee can offer us when growing our plants.
Coffee grounds to make compost
Coffee grounds are all organic matterperfectly compostable. The ideal is to put dry the grounds before taking them to the compost bin urban or vermicomposting. The worms will transform it into worm castings.
Since these coffee grounds tend to stick and form crusts, remember to move them and air them. If you have a large grounded battery, you can add these coffee grounds directly.
Home consumption is not the same as that of large coffee composters, which must be pre-treated due to the high acidity of the grounds.
Coffee grounds in the garden
The acidophilic ornamental plants Common in gardens such as hydrangeas, azaleas, rhododendrons, camellia, Japanese maple, heather, erica, daphne, pieris and magnolia need slightly acidic soil.
How to use the grounds:
You can maintain the ideal pH if you place the coffee grounds (wet or dry) in the soil superficially around the main stem and in the projection of the crown of these plants.
Blueberries are also acidophilic. If you have them in the hedge of your garden, coffee will be an ally for their care.
Coffee grounds on houseplants
Most indoor plants are plants of tropical origin (such as coffee) that are kept inside the houses to protect them from the cold and create a microclimate around them.
In general, they also prefer a mixture of somewhat acidic substrates with a small percentage of peat.
How to use the grounds:
A couple of tablespoons of coffee grounds on the surfacebenefits them with the contribution of organic matter and some acidity.
Coffee grounds in the garden
Coffee has a slightly repellent effect on slugs and snails.. The roughness of its texture makes moving uncomfortable for gastropods and the caffeine scares them away.
Ants don’t like it either the presence of coffee grounds on the soil of the orchard or garden.
How to use the grounds
- For slugs and snails. Place the mixture around plants susceptible to attack such as chard, beets and cabbages in general. After the rains you must reapply.
- On your walks through the garden, carry a small hoe or a stick and breaks and integrates into the ground the coffee crust.
Cats are bothered by the aroma of coffee. If you have feline visitors, apply as a thin coverage. Remember that tends to form a scab.
decaffeinated coffee for tomatoes
The tomatoes are sensitive to the presence of caffeine in the soil, which affects their growth. For this reason It is not convenient to place coffee around the tomato plants..
There will be no problems if the compost provided to the plants has coffee, since during the maturation of the compost this alkaloid disappears.
The tomato seeds also present sensitivity to caffeine and its presence in planting substrates can inhibit germination.
Coffee for liquid fertilizer
He ground coffee It comes from roasted coffee seeds. Inside the seeds the plant reserved nutrients in order to germinate successfully. With this technique you can recover them and apply them to your plants:
- Fill a deep container with water and place the coffee grounds. An amount of 100 g per liter of water will be sufficient.
- let it rest one or two weeks, depending on the season since the temperature affects the speed of the reactions. Remember to stir the mixture every 3 or 4 days.
- Strain it and apply it by irrigation to indoor plants and garden shrubs and flowers. In the garden, water the chard, beets, spinach and cabbages with this coffee slurry.
Coffee capsules as seedbeds
If you use a capsule coffee machine, the ideal is choose compostable coffee capsuleswhich you can dispose of in the organic waste container. You also have the option to use steel coffee capsulesreusable.
But if you use conventional coffee capsules, an option to extend their life is reuse them to make cropsas a seedbed. For them:
- Using a spike, make a hole in the base for drainage.
- Fill them with a substrate rich in perlite.
- Place a seed in the center.
Other uses of coffee at home
Apart from being able to reuse coffee grounds in the garden and garden, you can use them for other uses. These are just a few examples:
- These coffee grounds are slightly abrasive. For this reason, they are useful for clean cooking residue stuck to pots and pans. A little coffee and a scouring pad will leave these items clean.
- You can also add it to your body care as skin exfoliant by mixing it with olive or coconut oil.
- If you pass the grounds through boiling water again, this reduced and cold coffee gives shine to dark hair.
- For aromatize and illuminate your house and gardenyou can mix paraffin with coffee. In a mold, place the wick and fill with the mixture. Clean jars are perfectly reusable to contain these scented candles.
- Coffee grounds are much more than waste, perfectly applicable to the concept of “recycle, reduce and reuse”. If you also consume sustainably grown coffeethe benefit is multiplied by reducing your carbon footprint throughout the process.
Curiosities about coffee
Coffee is native to Africa and it was the Arabs who were in charge of its commercialization and adaptation of the crop. Only in the 17th century did it begin to be consumed in Europe.
It arrived in Spain in the mid-18th century. thanks to the Italians who accompanied the Bourbons, after the War of Succession.
In 1726, the word “coffee” appears for the first time in the dictionary as a plant and drink.