I cleaned out the big freezer yesterday and it is amazing what you find in that basket at the bottom I found three partial cans of assorted brands of ground coffee. We bought an espresso maker a few years ago and all these types were bought to use in it. That fad died down and the coffee was forgotten until now. I know that coffee grounds are okay to put in the compost bin but what about unbrewed ground coffee? I can't find any info about those. I have a total of about 2 and a half pounds and am pretty sure I shouldn't just dump the whole lot in there at once.
Toni do you think maybe you can take all that coffee, an poor boiling water over it. let it sit to cool, then strain. i guess you could use the coffee liquid for outdoors now, i don't know, but then you could put the old coffee now weakened into the compost bin. Its just a thought, i honestly don't know. Good luck tho!
Actually I was thinking along those lines too Biita. That possibly the used coffee grounds were okay since something had been removed in the brewing process that could have harmed plants. I can do that, I have a large bucket. Course it would be easier to compost them as is tho if that is okay.
Fad? Tell that to the highly-successful espresso stand out here, 10 miles from town, in the midst of the Capitol Forest. Washington is SO weird. Anyways... since the VERY strong grounds get put into compost bins all the time 'round here I'd say it would be fine to put stale ones in. It will raise the acidity of the compost, I'd suspect, but not by enough to worry about.
Mary, the fad I am talking about is at our house. Randy was making fraps almost every night the first summer we had the machine,until we got really tired of them that's when the fad died here.
Hi Critter Painter, I was just in Washington for a week, what a pretty State! Especially the Rain forrests. Yes the coffee craze is still alive there, it was really nice having high quality coffee shops on every corner. Although things have probably settled down there, I notice more and more coffee shops popping up in the East Coast. As for the grounds, years ago, I remember my Mother putting fresh, (unbrewed) coffee grounds in the flower beds. Sorry to say I don't remember if it helped, or hurt the plants. Sure made the dirt smell good though... Mike
lol, I see what you mean, Toni. I know how fads like that one go, so I waited out the homebrew one until an espresso maker turned up cheap at a garage sale. Yup, used it a bunch of times, now it's a dust catcher, but it was only 3 bucks. Kinda a waste on my part, since we only drink decaff!! Thanks Mike! It is unspeakably lovely here at times, it's a shame word got out. I used to do training hikes in the rain forest, wet but lovely. And learned that the isolated beaches there are no place to set your pot of water to cool off in a late evening. Sand-fleas in your cup... not a nice thing 'tall. I left a legacy up there- a very nice hiking boot that I lost to an unexpected patch of quicksand!
