If you are a true coffee connoisseur, beat a hasty retreat from this post and do not look back. The following guidelines break nearly every rule set forth by the National Coffee Association of USA, Inc., for brewing a fine cup of java perfection.
If, however, all you need in the morning is a surge of joe running through your veins, and you’re happy with church fellowship coffee or a mug of drive-through brew, this post is for you.
Following are a few frugal living tips for you coffee lovers to shave nickels and dimes off your daily java habit:
1. Invest in a reusable filter. Instead of throwing away your filter every morning, rinse it out and reuse it. If, however, you have a septic system, do not rinse the grounds down your sink, since it makes your septic sluggish. Nobody wants a sluggish septic.
2. Instead of putting a new filter in every morning and adding, say, eight tablespoons of grounds, leave the previous day’s filter and grounds in and add a smaller amount of fresh grounds, perhaps 4 or 5 tablespoons. Experiment until you find a ratio that satisfies your “coffee tooth.” Doing this every other day will halve the number of paper filters you use each month, as well as stretch your coffee grounds.
3. Make only enough joe to last you a couple hours. Coffee is best drunk within the first hour anyway. If you want more later, make it fresh. Chances are you will drink less coffee (and therefore spend less money) if it is not beckoning to you.
4. If you do make too much, do not pour out the leftover coffee from the previous day. Heat it up and add it to the day’s brew. Ideally, you should refrigerate it overnight . . . but we live in the real world.
5. Make your coffee at home rather than spending three or four dollars a day at a coffee house. Reserve that luxury for a treat. Coffeemakers are available at all levels, from a small, inexpensive option to the latest, state-of-the-art product that could double as a NASA satellite. My coffee-lover is quite pleased with our middle-of-the-road model, which is reasonably priced at Amazon, and often available as an even more affordable refurbished product. If Starbucks is more your style, give this baby a try.
6. Rather than tossing your coffee grounds and paper filter in the trash, give them a second life by adding them to your compost pile.
Perhaps the most effective method of trimming your coffee budget is to give up the joe entirely. But with such promising news about the health benefits of a steady flow of java through the veins of the coffee drinker, why bother!
Forever: Time it takes to brew the first pot of coffee in the morning.
~Author Unknown
Related articles for the coffee lover:
- Reusing coffee grounds (sfgate.com)
- Benefits of Coffee Grounds For Your Garden (groundtoground.org)
Thanks for the tips. Your writing is fun. Never thought I’d laugh reading frugal coffee tips.
I’d write more, but the java is calling my name!
Can’t keep the hot java waiting, Carissa! Go! Quickly!
Honestly. Loved this. Made me grin and chuckle out loud as I was about to savor my second cup today! Hope you have a great weekend! Thanks for the tips!
Thanks, Juanita. Enjoy your java and your weekend!
I can attest that many of these tips have merit. For a while, I didn’t even know she was using yesterday’s grinds to make today’s coffee. I’m still kickin and the coffee doesn’t taste any different. Who knew…
My dear hubby, there are a lot of things I do in the kitchen that you don’t know about. Maybe you should stop reading this blog.
I should have taken your advice and taken the hasty retreat! Ick!
Ha ha. Yes, you were warned! Seriously, my husband said the same thing, and he likes a gooooood cup of coffee. No after-church java for him! But he didn’t notice my coffee stretching tactics at all. And the budget sure appreciated it. Now then, be nice and don’t “ick” until you’ve tried it.
These are some great tips. I should be re-heating my unused coffee, instead of dumping it!
I save the leftover coffee in the fridge and make it into “iced coffee”. I just add milk and liquid coffee creamer and some ice cubes – voila! And, yes…my husband thinks it’s magic, too.
I actually learned something from my Aunt. She handcrafts soaps, and I learned that coffee is a natural deodorizer. I save some of my used grounds in a baggy next to the sink and after cooking with garlic (which is pretty much daily), or making fish, or changing an especially stinky diaper, I scrub my hands with it. Seriously! Rub your wet hands with coffee grounds before using the soap, it works! It’s also a good exfoliate
I did not know that! Thank you for sharing! Time for a “coffee” bath!