"coffee grounds" news and stories

I don't know about you, but I'm always wondering what to do with my coffee grounds -- and I don't even drink the stuff on a daily basis! So, how about using it to print out your important papers?

This is only an entry into the Greener Gadgets Competition right now, as Inhabitat explains, but the above RITI Coffee printer could be the wave of the future -- a very green future. You pour your grounds into a special cartridge (or tea!), get your paper ready, and move the cartridge back and forth. That somehow prints the words out on the paper. No electricity is needed since you do the work yourself, and no toxic or pricey toner to store.

I'm not quite sure exactly how it works, but I thought the idea. And man, imagine how tasty your paperwork will smell if you work with one of those suckers?

Our sister blog Green Daily has a list of 21 things you can do with old coffee grounds (besides, I would assume, using them again to make more coffee). A couple of the ideas I've heard before, such as adding coffee grounds to plants to help them grow and hanging them in closets to absorb odors, but a couple of them are rather intriguing. Using coffee grounds to soften your hair? Making temporary tattoos? Interesting.

If one of your resolutions is to be a little bit more green in 2008 and reuse items and recycle and all that, maybe there's an idea or two on here you can use.

When brewing coffee, there are two factors that play a huge part in the final flavor. The water-to-bean ratio is important, but first you should have fresh beans and they should be ground as soon before brewing as possible. Fresh grounds will have the natural oils of the bean still in them, which will give you the fullest flavor, eliminating much of that flat and bitter aftertaste that can come from stale grounds - and ground coffee can stale very, very quickly. This is why, if you brew coffee at home, it's a good idea to buy a grinder and grind your own beans. Since that's another step between you and coffee in the morning, however, many opt for preground. The all-in-one coffee makers, which have built in grinders, are a good option for anyone who wants to get the best cup of coffee with the least amount of work.

The machines are programmed in advance and they heat water, grind beans and brew your coffee all with the touch of a button. A recent test showed good results from each of three machines. The Melitta preformed well, but had no insulated carafe, which keeps the coffee from becoming burned or overly strong sitting on a heating pad. The Cuisinart made a slightly better cup of coffee than the Melitta, but the Capresso, with a burr grinder to ensure even grounds and smooth flavor, won the test.

All in all, you can't really go wrong with any of the machines from the sound of it, but if you already have a machine you like, look into getting a grinder instead of a whole new machine to really improve the quality of your morning brew.

Source

A friend gave me a bag of coffee beans as a gift. It was lovely, smelled great, and I can't wait to open the bag and start brewing...Wait, the beans are whole, and I don't have a coffee grinder!

I thought it was an absolute stroke of genius when I busted out my food processor. In my brilliant mind, a food processor is basically a giant version of a coffee mill.

That is so untrue! So untrue! Now my poor little food processor is in critical condition. She'll make it, no doubt, but I suspect she'll never be the same.

The coffee beans are worse. About ¼ of the beans are still almost completely intact. The rest of the beans are a complete mess of chopped beans in all different size. Now, I know this does not makes for a good brew, but I tried it anyway.

Bad brew. Not even cream made it taste better, and I never use cream. Do not grind your coffee beans with a food processor.