Five different ways to use coffee
At Henry’s Coffee and Events, we love coffee (as you had probably guessed). But sometimes we are left with left over coffee and wonder what to do with it. More often again, we are left with heaps of ground coffee that seems too good still to be thrown away. If you sometimes find yourself in the same predicament, worry no more ! We have compiled 5 ingenious ways to use coffee other than having a damn good cup of it!
1 – Body scrub
This one is for those people who love taking care of their skin! A simple and easy way to use leftover ground coffee is to turn it into a luxurious body scrub. The gritty texture of the coffee ground makes a lovely and natural exfoliant. It will gently remove dead skin and increase blood circulation. The caffeine contained in the coffee ground is a strong antioxidant that will keep your skin strong and glowing.
A simple coffee scrub can be sold for 10 to 30 pounds. If you want to avoid paying this hefty price you can simply make your own scrub at home.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup ground coffee
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of olive oil or rape seed oil
A splash of vanilla extract (optional)
1 tbsp of glycerin (optional)
-Mix everything together
-Gently massage on wet skin. Avoid the face and other gentle areas.
Keep in the fridge when not in use. Use within 2 weeks.
2 – marinade
f you are looking for a new and exciting way to bring flavour into your next meal, coffee might be the answer. Indeed you can use leftover coffee to create a rich and delicious marinade. The recipe is quite simple and will definitely bring some novelty at the dinner table.
Ingredients:
-2 cups prepared coffee cooled
–1 cup molasses
–1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
–2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
–4 cloves garlic minced
–1 tsp dried thyme
-1tsp dried rosemary
-Pinch of white pepper
–Salt and pepper to taste
Simply mix all ingredients together. Place the food you want to marinade in the mixture for at least 20 minutes. Then grill or pan fry.
Alternatively, you can heat up the mixture until it thickens to use it as a sauce.
3 – neutralise bad smells
We have all had to deal with strange odours coming from our fridge. Whether it is caused by an old forgotten cheese or a rotten carrot, it is not enjoyable to say the least. But we have a solution to this problem! You simply need to place a small bowl filled with leftover coffee ground into your fridge and let it absorb all the bad smells. Indeed coffee will absorb any smells if comes in contact with. This is one of the reasons why it is often forbidden for coffee shop employees to wear perfume as it might impact the delicate aroma of the coffee beans they work with. But when it comes to your fridge (or any other space that needs deodorising) this is great news! We would advise you to leave your coffee ground bowl to absorb bad smells for at least a week. But do not hesitate to leave for longer.
4 – ADD LEFTover coffee to chill
If you are looking to add some depth and richness in your homemade chilli adding a bit might be exactly what you need. The intense and strong flavour profile of coffee will enhance the complexity of all the lovely spices in a homemade chilli. We recommend adding a 1/3 cup or 80ml to a big pot of chilli to start with then adapt if needed. This might sound strange but trust us, you will love it!
5 – Make Frosting
Lastly, you can use leftover coffee to make icing! It is really simple but will take any cake or muffin to a whole other level. The quantities of ingredients will vary depending on the size of your cake and the icing consistency you are looking for. To create coffee icing you only need icing sugar and some coffee. We would advise to start with a small amount of sugar and adjust as you go. You only need to incorporate coffee a teaspoon at a time into your icing sugar and mix until you reach desired consistency. It might take a little while to get the hang of it but you will not regret it.
As you can see, there are many ways to recycle leftover coffee and coffee grounds. We hope the tips we have shared will help you avoid coffee waste and help reap all the benefits coffee has to offer! So next time you pour yourself a delicious and freshly brewed cup of coffee, keep our tips in mind to include coffee in even more areas of you life.
