Sustainable Coffee at Home: Tips for Green Brewing Practices

Water bottles and insulated cups are all the rage these days, aren’t they? While they may seem like more of a fad these days, they do have more honourable origins. We all know that the reusable bottle movement began as a way to minimise plastic waste all over the world. If they work for plastic cups, they can certainly work for single-use coffee cups, don’t you think?

With that train of thought already set, we’re going to discuss what other ways you can join the eco-friendly coffee movement. These are simple, easy things you can do at home or on the go. You really needn’t go out of your way to accommodate them. That’s what makes them more effective!

Go Green With Coffee Beans

No Single-Use Cups…Even Mugs!

We know that you can easily get eco-friendly coffee cups in stores and coffee shops use them instead of plastic more often than not. However, it’s a good idea to skip them all regardless. 

If you’re going to brew a cup of coffee at home, consider directly pouring your brew in your to-go tumbler instead of using your mug at home. We know that you may want to have a few sips while you eat your breakfast, and you can do just the same from your tumbler as with a mug. It’s one way you can minimise your water and resource use (however small that may seem now). 

Plus, let’s be honest here, we know you won’t be able to finish your coffee at home. You’re bound to take it with you. Think of it as skipping an unnecessary step. Plus, if you do happen to get another cup of coffee while you’re out, you can just hand the barista your reusable tumbler instead of using a single-use cup!

A Pressing Issue

Drip filters or Aeropress… No matter how well your eco-friendly coffee machines work, you can still go one step further by using reusable coffee filters. Again. We know that you can make the most conscious effort to only purchase recycled filters and such, but this is better. This beats having to throw away a filter after every brew! 

While timelines vary depending on what filters you use, it is said that it takes roughly 6 to 8 months for them to break down and decompose. Compared to other waste, that may seem like a short time. But wouldn’t it be better to skip that overall? If you brew a lot of coffee, it may even be more economical for you to use reusable coffee filters.

This tip is somewhat similar to our first one, so we know you get the jist of it. With that said, we’ll jump into the next one.

Bigger, Better Batches

There is a way to reduce waste daily and that is by making bigger batches of coffee at home if you can. And we’d like to emphasise the “if you can” part of that statement. We know not all coffee can be brewed and saved for later. 

One accepted way of making bigger coffee batches at home is by cold brewing. You may have heard of it! Cold brewing is a method in which you steep coffee grounds and let it “brew” overnight using cold water (hence the name). You can make it stronger or more diluted by changing the ratios. 

What’s great about cold brew coffee is that it can keep for days in the fridge and still taste fresh. This means you’ll only have to make use of your filter and do a round of dishwashing only once!

Beans for Brewing and Planting

We’ve been talking about waste concerning cups and filters. But how about the actual coffee grounds? There are a lot of us who just throw away our coffee grounds after we’re done brewing coffee with them. But did you know that coffee grounds make great fertilisers for plants?

Check Out - Ways You Can Recyle Coffee Grounds

You and your potted pals can enjoy coffee together! However, it’s worth mentioning that not all of them like having coffee added to their soil. Be wary of adding coffee grounds to veggies like rosemary, lavender, or geraniums - they don’t like the acidic and nitrogen-rich content of caffeinated coffee grounds.

As compost, coffee grounds help soil with water retention. If you have crops like carrots, tomatoes, and peppers growing in your garden, consider adding used coffee grounds to the soil. This will also work great with snake plants, roses, and daffodils.

The Coffee and Climate Change Connection

We won’t knock on eco-friendly coffee cups and filters more than we should. We think they are better than some of the products out there. But if there’s an easier solution, it’s worth looking into!