How Many Times Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds? [A Coffee Lovers Answer]

The question how many times can you reuse coffee grounds is easy, just one time is the answer as you will only get one good cup of coffee out of them.

Brewing a cup of coffee with reused coffee grounds will result is a weak and watery tasting cup of coffee.

There are some great secondary money-saving uses for your used coffee grounds though – Keep reading for my top 10 alternative uses for used coffee grounds.

How Many Times Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds?

Unfortunately, there is just no way for you to brew an extra cup of coffee out of your coffee beans. You can’t reuse them for brewing a second cup.

When you do try to, you will end up with a bitter and over-extracted cup of coffee. It tastes horrible, truly horrible. Even when you let your grounds dry out, you still don’t get a decent cup of coffee. It goes the opposite way: you end up with an under brewed, under-extracted, very sour coffee as a result.

This is not to say that you can’t reuse your coffee grounds for other purposes and give them a new life post brewing as soil fertilizer, skin scrub to rid you of dead skin cells, hair scrub, insecticide, and even can be used for baking.

There are many alternative uses for your coffee grounds. We’ll get into that in a moment, hang on!

Read: Can you brew coffee twice?

Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds The Next Day?

To hammer the message home, you cannot reuse coffee grounds the next day, the next hour or even a minute after you have brewed your first cup of coffee with them.

You have used up the compounds that you need and taken them out of your grounds, and any second cup is just naturally going to be a lot weaker.

If you get even close to a good cup of coffee from re-brewing your coffee grounds, you will need to have a good look at your brewing process or your equipment, as there is something wrong with your extraction process that you are not getting them all (or more) into your first cup.

You should get all the goodness of the compounds and oils into your first cup, with very little to none left in for a second cup.

Read: Do coffee grounds kill ants?

My Top 10 Alternative Ways Of Reusing Your Old Coffee Grounds

Waste not, want not, as the saying goes. If there is an alternative use, a means of upcycling or repurposing your coffee grounds you truly have no reason at all, for just throwing them out.

Give them a new life!

#1 Use Your Old Coffee Grounds As An Insect Repellant

Your old, used coffee grounds still contain some compounds that are good at attracting worms, which is good for your soil quality and is toxic for insects. You can use your coffee grounds for keeping mosquitos, snails, beetles, and fruit flies away.

All you need to do is sprinkle liberally your old coffee grounds on your house plants, flower bed and garden lawn.

#2 Use Them As A Garden Fertilizer

Following on from #1 above, your coffee grounds contain several nutrients like:

• Iron.
• Potassium.
• Magnesium.
• Nitrogen.
• Calcium.
• Phosphorus.
• Chromium.

Which will have the effect of revitalizing your soil. As a bonus, old coffee grounds are good at removing heavy metals and elements that can contaminate your soil.

#3 Use Them On Your Compost Pile

Due to the abundance of nutrients and the value that they add, used coffee grounds are a great addition to a compost bin. Given time, microorganisms will work in your favor and turn your grounds into a mega-nutrious soil for your garden.

#4 Reuse Your Coffee Grounds As A Flea Repellant

Transitioning from the first two above, you can use old coffee grounds as a very effective flea removal for your pet and can be very effective preventative also.

Best of all, it is a 100% natural product and does not contain any chemical that may be a hazard to your pet. Just rub some old coffee grounds through your pet’s hair after you have bathed your pet.

Rinse well and then dry your pet. The ground coffee will give your pet a shiny new coat. Keep it in mind that the fleas need to go somewhere, so be sure to wash your pet outside and be extra careful with your dog, as coffee grounds are toxic for them when they consume them.

Read: Can you reuse coffee grounds?

#5 Used Coffee Grounds Are A Great Deodorizer

You can use your coffee grounds to deodorize to freshen up a room as they contain nitrogen, which is an effective deodorizer. You can put them in your car, bedroom closet, and anywhere that you need to.

Coffee grounds, old, new or reused, are great at absorbing odors.

#6 The Are A Natural Skin Exfoliant

Coarse coffee grounds are a natural and effective skin exfoliant that can and will help you to remove dead skin cells and embedded dirt.

It is very easy to make. Add them with coconut oil for a very simple and healthy natural scrub. You can also mix with honey for a lip scrub that is peculiarly tasty!

The antioxidant properties will help to protect your skin from UV damage.

#7 It Is A 100% Natural Hair Growth Stimulant

Sorry, for the gentlemen with no hair (like me), this is not going to make your hair grow. This is a beauty treatment that will help you to remove the build up of shampoo and haircare products and dead skin cells from your scalp.

Studies also indicate that applying caffeine to your skin may improve the blood flow to your scalp and thus improve the growth of your hair.

#8 Another Natural Beauty Treatment – Under-Eye Circle Treatment

Due to the antioxidants and the caffeine content will help you to fight the signs of aging and help to reduce circles under your eyes, like the typical under the eye circles. Due to the caffeine, the blood flow is stimulated and may help to reduce the swelling below your eyes.

#9 Use It As A Meat Tenderizer (Great For A BBQ!)

The enzymes in coffee and the natural acids can help to break down the protein in meat and tenderize your meat. These acids in coffee can also have the effect of enhancing the flavor of your meat.

Just add them to your favorite meat marinade, and don’t forget to rub your grounds over the meat and leave it for a few hours before you cook.

The coffee will form a nice thick, crispy crust on top.

#10 Tint Clothes And Fabric Dye

If you want to add a neat light or sepia tone to a T-shirt or top, then you will be glad to know that coffee is good at staining cotton fabric. Using coffee as a dye for light colored material gives a neat, antiquated look.

Just soak the item in water and add left over coffee grounds and then bring the water to a boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes and then take it off the heat for half an hour. Wash in your washing machine before you wear it.

How Many Times Can You Reuse Coffee Filter?

A coffee filter can be used anything from 3 to 5 times before you throw it out and use a new one. The number of times you can use it will depend on the quality of the filter. The determining factor is the quality of the coffee.

Once you notice a sub-par cup of coffee, take it as a sign that you need to throw out your filter and use a new one.

Frequently Asked Questions About How Many Times Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds

Can You Use The Same Coffee Grounds Twice?

No, there is simply no way that you can successfully make a second pot of coffee or a cup of coffee, for that matter, with any brewing process or coffee brewing method, and get a cup of coffee that is anywhere near as good as the first cup.

It is in fact quite an achievement if and when you can make a cup of coffee that even drinkable when you are using the same grounds twice.

Some sites claim that you can – I’ll put my money where my mouth is and challenge you to try it if you have any doubts.

Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds For The Next Pot Of Coffee?

It is simply not possible to reuse coffee grounds for the next pot of coffee due to the coffee brewing process extracting the majority of the soluble compounds during the first round of brewing.

The result of reusing or re-brewing coffee grounds is that you are effectively brewing with grounds that have almost all the compounds and oils that you need for a good cup of coffee extracted during the first round of brewing. This is why you get a poor quality second cup of coffee.

If you are able to reuse your coffee grounds and get a good cup of coffee from a second brew, you can take it as a sign of a poorly extracted first cup and focus on your brewing technique.

Can We Use Coffee Grounds Multiple Times In A Filter?

No, I tried this as partially a test and a challenge to find out if I can get a quality, or at least drinkable, second up from a drip coffee maker and pour over coffee. No matter what the brewing method is, you simply can’t get away with re-brewing coffee grounds.

Once you have extracted the soluble mass – they are gone, none to very little are left in your coffee grounds for getting a decent second cup of coffee out of them.

Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds In Keurig?

Keurig K-cups are designed for single use only. You simply cannot, and will not, anything close to the same cup of coffee with a second brew. Not even when trying as best as you can and aiming for a smaller cup of coffee it is just not going to work out due to the lack of coffee solubles left in the grounds.

What Happens When You Brew Coffee Twice?

Due to the extraction process during the first round of brewing your coffee, there are very few compounds and oils left in your coffee grounds for even a half decent cup of coffee. To put it simply, what is not there is not there. Basically, what happens when you brew coffee twice is that you get a low-quality coffee.

If you are brewing a cup of coffee, in terms of putting your coffee on your stovetop and in a saucepan to heat it up, the result is a very astringent, stewed tasting cup of coffee. It is akin to leaving your coffee on the hot plate of your drip brewing machine for too long.

Does Using Two Filters Make Coffee Stronger?

Peculiarly speaking, – yes, using a second filter does result in a bolder and stronger coffee. This is due to the extraction time being extended. If you want to try it, it will take a fair bit of tweaking and experimentation to avoid getting an over-extracted coffee.

You can try:

• Two paper filters.
• Two metal filters.
• Two cotton cloth filters.
• One cotton cloth filter and one metal filter.
• One cotton cloth filter and a paper filter.
• One paper filter and a metal filter.

This is something that, for pour over coffee, will take a degree of skill and patience in pouring. With your drip coffee maker, be careful that you don’t break it or cause a huge mess as the flow rate is altered.

Can You Reuse Old Coffee Grounds?

Coffee grounds can’t be reused to brew coffee regardless of the coffee brewing method. Your cup of coffee when it is made with reused old coffee grounds will only have a hint of coffee flavor and very watery.

Always use Fresh coffee grounds.

What Happens When You Use Coffee Grounds Twice?

Brewing coffee grounds twice will result in a cup of coffee that has a weak coffee taste as most of the flavor compounds and coffee oils from your coffee grounds were extracted during the first brewing of them.

Final Thoughts – How Many Times Can You Reuse Coffee Grounds? 

If anyone asks you how many times can you reuse coffee grounds, please save them from the cardinal sin of coffee and trying to rebrew old grounds. I’m sure they will appreciate the alternative uses and saving some cash on garden fertilizer, meat tenderizers and beauty products, as well as pet care products.

Which of these top 10 alternative uses for used coffee grounds did you like the best? Do you have your own amazing way of reusing old coffee grounds?

Be kind, be awesome and join our online coffee community on Facebook/Meta and share them with us all.

Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location