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Yes, you can reuse coffee grounds for cold brew. If you are a coffee lover, then you must drink more than one cup of coffee a day. While this may have a lot of benefits for your health, it may feel quite heavy on your pocket.
Consuming a lot of coffee daily means throwing away a good amount of used coffee grounds every day. Being a coffee lover myself I know this hurts quite a lot. So after doing several research and experiments, finally I have some tips and tricks regarding reused coffee grounds to share with you. So without wasting any more time let’s begin.
How Many Times Can You Cold Brew Coffee Grounds?
Don’t reuse more than twice. Coffee grounds have a vast surface area. When water comes in contact with it, it absorbs most of the soluble components. These soluble components are mainly caffeine, oils, acids, and aroma.
Cold brew coffee is made by infusing water and coffee grounds and steeping for around 12 hours. Through this technique, the water extracts all the goodness from the coffee grounds. What is left behind is acids and a bitter taste.
So, reusing coffee grounds means that you would have all the leftover essentials. Your cold brew coffee from reused grounds would be more bitter-tasting and highly acidic. The coffee would be very weak in terms of taste and aroma.
All the flavors and aromas of the coffee are lost during the long-brewing process. But you can adjust the bitter taste by adding extra sugar, honey, or any other sweetener. You can also get some extra milk or cream if you just want to enjoy cold coffee during a hot summer.
The golden rule here to remember is that the more the steeping time, the more essentials are lost. But there is one trick that you can do to reuse coffee grounds for the french press and still enjoy the authentic taste. Decrease the steeping time. By doing this, some of the goods will remain in the coffee grounds. So you can enjoy a tasty cup of coffee with the reused coffee grounds.
There is one other way you can reuse coffee grounds. You can mix the used coffee grounds with freshly ground coffee. This way you can enjoy the aroma and freshness of your coffee. This will also help you save some money.
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Can You Dry And Reuse Coffee Grounds?
After a cold brew, you are left with moist coffee grounds. Many people let them air dry for a day and then use them to brew cold coffee. While this may sound like a good idea but is the worst thing ever.
Soggy or wet coffee grounds are the best medium for bacteria to grow. They replicate this moist culture very quickly. So now you know that the wet coffee that you are rebrewing contains all the organisms that are harmful to your health and will cause diseases.
So, it is recommended to not rebrew coffee grounds after a day. Reuse it only twice that too not after 6 hours. Consider that your money is not as important as your health.
How Much Caffeine Is Left In Used Coffee Grounds?
According to several kinds of research, the quantity of caffeine in used coffee grounds is around 3-9 mg. A normal cup of cold coffee prepared from fresh coffee grounds contains around 40-50 mg of caffeine.
This means that when you are reusing coffee grounds for cold brew, you get less than 10% caffeine.
Caffeine is the ingredient that makes you crave coffee all day every day. And what is coffee without caffeine? Caffeine has many health benefits including alertness and a healthy cardiovascular system.
So if you aren’t concerned about the caffeine and want to enjoy cold brew just as a beverage then you can surely reuse the grounds. But if you want something strong and refreshing then either use freshly ground coffee or consider my above-given tips.
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What Do You Do With Coffee Grounds After Cold Brew?
Many things can be done with coffee grounds after a cold brew. You can be as creative as you want. Coffee is an ingredient that has countless benefits. All you have to do is to think out of the box. Here I am listing some other ways to reuse coffee grounds.
Scrub
Coffee is one of the best organic ingredients that you can use on your skin. Just mix it with your regular body wash or soap and use it as an exfoliating agent for your body. You can also use it on your face. You will get fresh glowing skin and you will smell like coffee all day.
Compost
Used coffee grounds allow the rapid growth of microorganisms. These microorganisms are very beneficial to the soil. So sprinkling used coffee along with some water in your soil will make it fertile. This is a great way of providing nutrients to your plants using natural ingredients.
Deodorizer
We all love the smell of coffee grounds. The strong smell is also one of the reasons that stop you from discarding the used coffee. But not anymore. You can fill the used coffee grounds in your old stockings and put them in your fridge, shoes, closet, or pretty much anywhere you want to get rid of the smell.
Bug Repellant
Believe me or not bugs do run away from the place where you have kept coffee grounds.
Dye
Even the used coffee grounds have the darkest colors. So you can do all your DIY dyeing experiments with used coffee grounds. Just add the grounds to boiling water till you get the desired color. The more coffee grounds the darker the color will be.
Cleaning
We all deal with aggressive stains in our kitchens daily. Coffee is a great cleaning agent. It scrubs off even the oiliest vessels with ease. So dry your used coffee grounds and clean your pots, pans, and kitchen counters in a breeze.
Conclusion
Reusing coffee grounds is a great way to give something back to nature. You can reuse it to brew cold coffee but you would have to compromise on the taste. You can use some tips and tricks to enhance the taste of the coffee from reused coffee beans. There are also many other ways by which you can reuse coffee beans. All you have to do is to go wild with your thinking.
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