Welcome to All in the Detail… I am so glad you
are here!
I have to admit I am a Coffee Drinker. Some people
drink tea and some, well, some don’t need any kind of liquid energy to get them
going in the morning. Now, the odd thing is - I can stop and start my ‘Morning
Addiction to Coffee’ very easily. When I am in my ‘Yes, I drink coffee’ period,
I need
my coffee before anyone can should speak to me in the morning. But, if
I choose to give up this morning ritual, I can easily stop Cold Turkey. I guess
I don’t have an addictive personality. I do, however, have an allergic reaction to coffee
– when I drink it, it creates very dark circles under my eyes (arghhhh). But
once I quit, my circles disappear in just a few days, weird huh?
And it seems that I am not alone in ‘I’m a
Coffee Drinker’ world. In 2013, about 83 percent of American adults drank
coffee, the world's biggest consumer of the beverage, this up from 78 percent
the previous year, according to the National Coffee Association's 2013 online survey. That's an average of
three cups a day per person, or 587 million cups.
So with all this coffee consumption (millions
of cups?), I figured it may be nice to share a few wonderful ways to utilize
all those used coffee grounds after we enjoy our morning (or afternoon or
evening) coffee.
Coffee grounds contain
calcium, potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus, all of which are highly
beneficial to plant growth. Aware of these qualities, experienced gardeners
have long known that one of the best uses for coffee grounds is adding it as a
fertilizer near acid-loving varieties like azaleas and rosebushes.
Some uses for coffee
grounds may seem odd, but believe it or not this trick really works: Yes,
coffee grounds can effectively conceal a scratch in dark wood furniture. With a
cotton swab, rub the grounds into the scratch (or scratches), let them sit for
5 or 10 minutes, then clean them off with a dry cloth.
You learn something
new every day: Snails hate caffeine. In fact, if the dosage is a high enough,
caffeine can be lethal to gastropods. So, if snails have been sabotaging your
flower beds and vegetable patches, try sprinkling coffee grounds at the base of
affected plants. Many people say that tea leaves work, too. (But I’m not a tea
drinker, so who knows?)
Is your refrigerator
or freezer getting a little funky? Let a bowl of coffee grounds sit for several
hours or overnight. The granules not only absorb foul odors, but also impart
their own refreshing scent. If you love the effects of coffee but not its
smell, try mixing in a few drops of vanilla or cinnamon extract.
Coffee grounds make an
excellent addition to the backyard compost heap, because they contain nitrogen,
which compost can’t do without. Also, coffee grounds attract the earthworms
that further aid decomposition. Just remember to balance the nitrogenous
grounds with carbon-rich materials such as leaves.
Now this should make us all
feel a little better about consuming that delicious, dark, rich magical elixir
that has a multitude of purposes. (Can you tell that I am in my ‘Yes, I drink
coffee’ period?)
