Ever noticed how much undrunk coffee you’re pouring down the drain each morning? Here’s what you to do with leftover coffee so you can ensure it doesn’t go to waste.
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Coffee is a daily staple. A study has found that the average American coffee drinker consumes over three cups per day.
Most of these coffee drinkers who brew their own coffee at home typically will own a coffee maker that makes between ten to 12 cups of coffee. So when you have brewed more coffee than you can consume, whatever is leftover tends to be wasted and poured down the drain.
How can you ensure you don’t waste any coffee in the next batch you make? We have 11 ideas for what to do with leftover coffee.
11 Things to Do With Leftover Coffee
When you next make a pot of coffee, don’t discard the unwanted brew. You may not have realized it before now, but that coffee you’re planning on throwing out has many other uses than just for drinking.
For starters, store the leftover coffee in the refrigerator so you can use it at a later time for one of the following ideas:
1. Whip Up Some Frozen Desserts
Is there anything better than a coffee-flavored dessert? There are many tasty frozen desserts like ice cream, popsicles, and snowcones that you can turn your leftover coffee into. All you’ll need in addition to your leftover is a few extra ingredients that you may already have in your kitchen.
Check out our no-churn coffee ice cream recipe that you can make immediately—no ice cream maker required. Or, if you’re in the mood for a cold treat on a stick, check out our Dalgona coffee popsicle recipe. Both require minimal equipment and just a few hours for the goodies to freeze.
2. Freeze Coffee Ice Cubes
We can all agree that there’s nothing worse than diluted coffee. This is especially the case in the summer. You pour ice into a glass, followed by coffee and your favorite sweeteners to make iced coffee. If you leave the glass aside for just a few minutes on a particularly hot day, your drink just isn’t the same with melted ice cubes. Enter: coffee ice cubes.
This is a super simple way to cool down coffee while keeping your coffee strong. Simply pour your leftover brewed coffee into an ice cube tray and freeze until solid.
3. Marinate Your Meats
To make your meat or fish tastier, add more flavor, or soften it, you’d typically marinate it in a seasoned liquid for several hours before cooking. Did you know you can make a marinade using leftover coffee? A coffee-flavored steak may not sound too appetizing at first. Well, you’re in for a surprise.
When leftover coffee is combined with other ingredients like garlic, rosemary, black pepper, and oil, it results in a coffee-based marinade that helps to tenderize the meat—and give it more flavor. Try using it to marinade your next meal.
4. Assemble Tiramisu
Tiramisu is a classic coffee-flavored Italian dessert that doesn’t require baking. The word tiramisu is Italian for pick me up, and with its sweet flavor and coffee content, it really is a great pick me up treat. It’s made with alternating layers of amaretto and coffee-soaked ladyfingers and a mixture of mascarpone and whipped cream. The treat is then topped with a generous layer of cocoa powder.
Check out our Tiramisu cake recipe so you can get to using your leftover coffee immediately. While tiramisu takes a bit of time to make, we have other coffee-flavored treats that also don’t require baking, including our coffee panna cotta and coffee mousse.
5. Bake Sweet Coffee Treats
Coffee and baked goods were meant for each other. And did you know there is a simple way to get the flavor of coffee into your baked goods? Simply swapping the water in your recipe for leftover coffee, mix and bake as usual. Super easy, right? For a straightforward recipe, you can make our fudgy coffee brownies using a brownie mix and replace the required amount of water with coffee. Also, consider our coffee chocolate chip cookies for a coffee-flavored twist to a favorite classic dessert.
6. Add Coffee to Breakfast Foods
You may love coffee so much that instead of just drinking it in the morning, you may also want to add it into your breakfast foods. There’s an effortless way to do so with coffee overnight oats and coffee chia pudding. Both require time for the ingredients to soak in liquid, so you’ll need to make them advance. But the good news is it’ll be ready in the morning. Just brew your fresh cup of coffee and have these breakfast foods ready to eat.
7. Shake It Into Your Cocktails
Coffee isn’t just a morning drink. It can be incorporated or turned into one of your favorite happy hour drinks. Coffee cocktails combine bittersweet coffee and sweet liqueur that make the perfect evening or party drink. Drinks like classic espresso martinis (or our fun takes on it, including a Dalgona espresso martini!) or even coffee and sake (which we named the SaPresso) or even coffee and Calpico are some recipes you can start with.
8. Easy Homemade Mocha
A mocha is a coffee beverage for anyone who enjoys the combination of coffee and chocolate. A traditional Caffè Mocha consists of espresso, but here’s an easy spin to it using leftover coffee instead. Just combine cocoa powder, sugar, leftover coffee, and warm milk in a mug, stir, and enjoy. Super simple and delicious.
9. Coffee Smoothies
Smoothies are made by blending fruit, vegetables, nut butters, yogurt, milk, or juice in a blender. It’s an easy way to get your serving of fruit or vegetables in a to-go drink. As it’s already a quick healthy choice for any time of day, consider adding a shot or two of your leftover coffee for an extra caffeine boost when you need it.
For a chocolate-flavored smoothie, check out our mocha smoothie recipe. Or a coffee oatmeal smoothie for the mornings—combining your cup of coffee into your breakfast. And if you prefer slow mornings, you can even make your smoothie into a thick smoothie bowl and enjoy it by the spoonful.
10. Water the Plants
Did you know you can use coffee in the garden? Plants need nitrogen to grow, and one source of it is coffee! So if you want to see your plants thrive, consider using your leftover coffee. Just make sure to dilute your coffee before using it (try a ratio of 1:1.) Use this diluted coffee about once or twice a week to water your plants and see them thrive.
11. DIY Home Products
If you weren’t already aware that there are various uses for leftover coffee, we’re adding even more things to the list. That includes using coffee to make products that you can use at home.
Take, for example, coffee scrubs for exfoliating and moisturizing skin. Or shea butter coffee soap bars that not only leave your skin smelling like coffee but also include a layer of coffee grounds to exfoliate the skin. And if you’d like to relive the morning scent of freshly brewed coffee in the morning all day long, a coffee-scented candle (made with coffee!) will do the trick.
Did you know you can also reuse your coffee grounds? Consider using coffee grounds in your garden.
