Just a few years back, almost no one cared about cold-brewed coffee. Now many of us keep cold coffee at the top of our favorite coffee types. But cold brew coffee is often slightly more expensive than regular coffee. It can put an extra burden on your finances in the long run. One simple way, however, to slash your budget on coffee is to use coffee grounds twice. But can you use coffee grounds twice for cold brew?
Yes, you can use coffee grounds twice for cold brew. But we do not recommend it because the quality of the used beans and coffee will be degraded. This means the second round of brewing will make diluted, weak tasting coffee. Cold brew coffee brewed with used beans will also have a lower caffeine content.
But there are a few more reasons we do not recommend using coffee grounds twice for cold brew coffee.
Keep reading to learn more!
What Is a Cold Brew Coffee?
Cold-brew has been a mainstream drink for a couple of years now. Long story short, cold coffee is another brewing method where the beans have been brewed in cold water to create a concentration over a low period of time. Then the concentration has to steep at room temperature or in the fridge for 8 to 20 hours. While serving, it is usually diluted with milk or water to get the right taste.
If you want to have some cold iced coffee but don’t want it to taste watery or bitter, then cold brew coffee is your ultimate solution. It tastes sweeter, it’s less acidic, and it’s catching the eye of the coffee addicts like you and me. But most importantly, you can store the concentration for weeks in your refrigerator thanks to its longer shelf life.
Can You Use Regular Ground Coffee in Cold Brewing?
Of course, you can. Cold brew enables you to use any regular ground. You can use coarse ground coffee or fine ground coffee.
We always recommend you use freshly ground coffee beans because cold brew takes a lot of time to brew completely. If the beans don’t have the flavor and aroma that comes with freshly ground beans, you might not like the resulting cold brew.
Can You Use Coffee Grounds Twice for Cold Brew?
If you are on a very tight budget or trying to do something different, you should try reusing the same ground coffee in a cold brew. You will experience new tastes while saving some money.
Researchers claimed that cold brew consumes up to 50 to 70% of the caffeine when using it for the first time because it soaks the bean for a more extended period than other coffees. And because of this, researchers suggest using a coffee grind only once.
But if you want to use the same grinds a second time, you might have to let the grounds soak for more than the recommended time. Still, will the brew’s quality be closer to the previous one or not?
To tell you more about whether you can use the coffee ground more than once or not, my brother and I took a challenge for ourselves.
He used a coarser ground for the challenge, and I used a finer ground. Here is what we found!
After using the grinds for the first time, we left them soaking for 5 hours. Then we followed the standard steps of making cold brew (which I have already discussed) and let it soak for 20 hours.
We saw a drastic change in the color of the concentration. It became much more orange and tasted very weak.
When I added some milk to my cold brew took a sip of it, it didn’t help. It was so watery! It basically tasted like water mixed with milk.
But my brother, who is also a coffee junkie, tried adding more cream and sugar to his cold brew. He said that he didn’t find much difference; though there was a degradation in the quality of the flavor, it was bearable.
Takeaway: If you want to reuse your grinds, you may need to add additional sugar and cream to help with the flavor. If you don’t like adding sugar, I would recommend sticking to single-use grinds.
Here’s How We Reused Coffee Grounds for Cold Brew
Ingredients
Previously used coffee grounds, a mug, a cotton cloth, and water
Time
15 to 20 hours.
Yield
25-30 servings
Steps
- After using the coffee grounds for the first time, leave it for about 5 hours. Let it dry naturally.
- Now put the ground coffee into the mug and pour some water over it. You can use cold or normal water but has to be in the ratio of 4:1.
- Stir the coffee so that the water is equally saturated in the coffee.
- Now tightly cover the mug.
- And leave it for about 15 to 20 hours. You can keep it in the fridge or a regular place; the choice is yours.
- After the scheduled time, pour the concentration through a cotton cloth.
- Transfer the filtered coffee to your desired mug, and there you have it, cold-brewed coffee from the reused coffee ground.
- Make your experience better by adding some cold water, sugar, cream, and milk.
Other Ways to Reuse Ground Coffee
Luckily, there are plenty of other uses for coffee grounds after you use them to make coffee. That’s right, don’t just throw away your coffee grounds! We recommend collecting them in a knock box and then using them for one of the following.
Use It as a Fertilizer.
Ground coffees can be a big help if you are into gardening because the used grounds will add some nitrogen to your soil and enrich it. It can also help the compost dilute into the soil quicker.
You can also add some water with your coffee grounds and sprinkle it onto the roots of your plants to make the ground more fertile.
Prevent Odors
Let’s admit it – not many people hate the smell of coffee beans. And this can also be used to prevent foul odors.
Just pack the grounds in a cotton cloth and place it in your dumpster or corner of your house. It will absorb the foul odors and give some mild coffee smell in its place. But the deodorizer has to be dry. If you put wet grounds in your cloth, you may not find this tip very useful. Wet grounds will typically mold and start to smell bad themselves.
This property of the grounds can also help you reduce onions’ odors when you cut them. If you rub some wet coffee grounds in your hands and wash it, it will take away the smell with it.
Shoe Deodorizer
If your shoes don’t smell bad, then you are a lucky person. But if you are just a regular person like me, this trick can help you keep your shoes from smelling awful.
Sprinkle dry grinds all over the shoes and then leave it overnight. Before going to work, you can clean your shoes up by throwing the grounds in the trashcan, or you can reuse the same coffee grounds multiple times in your shoes.
Control Pests
Nobody wants their house to be a 5-star hotel for pests. Lucky for you, coffee grounds actually deter many types of pests because of their strong smell. Since bugs and mice can’t eat ground either, they make for a great pest repellent. Simply put the grounds in a cloth and leave where you think you may have pests.
Clear Drains
When your toilet’s pipes get clogged, you don’t have to call for experts to unclog your drain every time. Boil the coffee grounds in the water and flush it to the drain; the mixture will neutralize the clog because of its abrasive properties. It will also reduce bad smells.
Coffee ground’s abrasive properties can also be helpful if you have stains in your house. Scrub the stains with a mixture of detergent and ground coffee to clear the spots on your floor.
Conclusion
Making a cup of cold brew coffee can be tricky and experimenting with new ideas can be challenging. But hopefully, after reading this article you now know that you can use coffee grounds twice for cold brew, but that it isn’t recommended.
We went over plenty of other uses for used coffee grounds so hopefully, you can end reusing them for a different purpose. Do you have your own way of reusing coffee grounds that we didn’t list? Let us know about it in the comments below.
Stay caffeinated friends!