Coffee Grounds – Capturing and disposal – Can you better a sieve and compost bin

There must be something more elegant and convenient. Any suggestions?

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Aeropress?

Aeropress into the garden bin for me.

Bin.

Aeropress into the food waste bin.

I got an aeropress when we first started raving about it on here. Went back to caffetiere and smartcafe mug.

Either way you’ve some coffee grounds that I don’t want to put down the sink.

Where does the sieve come into it? Surely the grounds are captured by whatever coffee making device you employ? After that, compost.

Lesanita2 – Member
I got an aeropress when we first started raving about it on here. Went back to caffetiere and smartcafe mug.

Either way you’ve some coffee grounds that I don’t want to put down the sink.

I see a business opportunity.

Dry them out and sell as decafffeinated coffee grounds…

🙂

I keep some to mix with soap for use cleaning oily/greasy hands. Like the sandy Swarfega, but nicer.

Dry them out and sell as decafffeinated coffee grounds…

Brilliant.

Compost bin has to be better than landfill surely? What’s the problem with it?

Espresso produces nice dry grounds into a knockout box so easy enough. The mess of dealing with Caffetieres is one of the things I don’t like about them. Now I’d always been told you shouldn’t tip grounds down the sink as it forms fatbergs with oil and grease (which I avoid putting down the sink anyway). However, the other day someone tried to tell me that (some) coffee grounds down the sink are a good way of keeping your pipes clear as they soak up any fat that is there and DONT clump together.

Anyone know the truth?

Ours go in the compost bin at home – local Starbucks used to give theirs away for compost

I throw mine in the garden soil

Not down the sink.
A couple of months after moving into this house, our outside drains blocked. I cleared them by putting my arm down the acces point and scraping out a retch-inducing agglomeration of coffee grounds & fat from the pevious owner. It set semi-solid so I had to claw my way into the abrasive mass with my fingernails. My hands stank for days.

I did similar in our last place. Other culprit supposedly washing powder (which is mostly cardboard). Couldn’t servant coffee grounds would differ.

slowoldman – sieve is used when rinsing out caffetiere to stop coffee grounds going down the sink. They then go to compost bin by the sink. easy. It means I’ve got a grubby sieve knocking around the sink most of the time.

Other culprit supposedly washing powder (which is mostly cardboard).

😕

The caffeine is quite toxic, it may slow down the stuff, bacteria and fungi, that you want to process your compost for you. Coffee grounds are understood to protect young plants from slugs and snails when spread on the soil around. Other than that, I’d advocate binning them.

I throw mine onto the grass and flower borders – someone on here (I think) suggested doing this as a cat deterrent – haven’t had a problem with cats since doing this

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/soil/qt/coffeegrounds.htm

Other culprit supposedly washing powder (which is mostly cardboard).

Ok – have never reasearched before (have used liquids for so long) but looks like that’s a myth

http://home.howstuffworks.com/laundry-detergent2.htm

Just tip it onto the soil.

If you’ve ever had a wormery you’ll know that worms love coffee grounds. Just compost them, they’ll rot down nicely.

They disappear nicely just chucked in the garden. Unlike tea bags which sit there, guilty like.

Coffee grounds are great for keeping snails off your plants – and they aren’t poisonous like snail pellets. We spread ours around the base of the hostas as so far none have been munched.

Most of mine go into compost, while any still stuck to the caffetiere or stovetop ‘basket’ just get rinsed down the plughole. I read somewhere that they’re good for keeping drains clear.

What I’m looking for is a thing for getting them out of bottom of caffetirere into the garden/compost bin. I use a tea strainer and thought there may be something more elegant out there.

It’ll be something like a cafetiere that you can rinse the grounds+water from the cafetiere into to separate out the water.

It’ll be something that will sit beside the sink for a few days (looking more elegant than my manky looking tea strainer). An old cafetiere is almost it, but it would be good if you could eject the grounds.

Pour the leftovers into your Aeropress, then squeeze them into a puck.

Everyday is a schoolday.

the grounds from the stovepot get got tipped into the bin (landfill)
with any stubborn ones rinsed down the sink.

now the majority will be retained for slug/snail deterring and coffee ground tea fertiliser.

If we could sort out the “drain cleaning” vs “fat-berg forming” side of things that’d be nice.

I have no idea if there’s truth in this but I read last year that ants dislike the grinds but worms have a penchant for the stuff. Add the grinds to an ant mound and they’ll bugger off…or so I was told. The one I experimented on didn’t get any bigger but the ants haven’t left and the worms haven’t attempted to move in to sate their lust…

Probably bollox.

If we could sort out the “drain cleaning” vs “fat-berg forming” side of things that’d be nice.

I did have a chat about this with a sewer engineer once* (I’m sure he has a better sounding job title than that but that’s what he does). He reckoned coffee grounds weren’t something he’d ever seen an issue with but he’d probably avoid washing anything solid down on principle if possible. The problem in the case above sounds like it was the fat, not the coffee which happened to get trapped in it.

*I can’t remember how it came up but it was a new years eve party with me dressed as a playboy bunny and him as robin hood**.

**not really relevant I suppose but it adds colour.

lemonysam, sounds like you know how to party.

Pour the leftovers into your Aeropress, then squeeze them into a puck

That sounds like a good idea since you say you have an Aeropress.

I’m aware everyone’s taste is different, but I find the coffee produced by an Aeropress far superior to a cafetiere I wouldn’t know why you aren’t using one unless you are brewing for a large group of people.

Oh yeah, and grounds go in the compost bin. My compost bin has really taken off since I took up drinking coffee at home – the worms love the stuff.

then

& then into compost.

Friend from northern Spain maintains there are very few blocked drains there due to constant scouring from coffee grounds.

The grounds are only going to stick and build up on gunky stuff (scientific definition) like fats, oils etc, they are not the root cause.

I fill it up with cold water, swill it and throw the still emulsified stuff out the front door.

Surprisingly effective on next doors cat. Depending on your level of rural ness this may not be an option for you.

What I’m looking for is a thing for getting them out of bottom of caffetirere into the garden/compost bin. I use a tea strainer and thought there may be something more elegant out there.

I use a spoon. Have I been doing it wrong?

Presumably, if you wee in the cafetiere and then pour it into the compost that’ll be doubly good for it.