The Short Answer: Coffee grounds are an amazing ingredient for your compost to turn into Black Gold for your garden. They are rich in nitrogen (about 2% by volume), making them an excellent fertilizer for leafy plants. However, don't just dump a thick layer on your flower bed, or they can mold and repel water. The best method is to mix them into your compost pile, balancing them with dry brown materials like dead leaves, sawdust, and dried grasses. Once your compost is broken down, sprinkle it around acid-loving plants like hydrangeas and blueberries. Remember if you want to keep an organic garden its best to only add organic, unsprayed materials to your compost as well!
Larry’s Take: Reduce waste wherever possible
We want to do our part and reduce waste wherever possible! We work with Compost Now in Raleigh to collect our compost weekly. We have 8 compost bins on site and they are filled with coffee grounds and chaff which is the papery skin around the coffee bean.
To us, coffee grounds are not trash; they are just energy that has not been used yet. When you add them to compost and put them in the ground, they grow wonderful things like tomatoes and blueberries.
The Science: Why Plants Love Coffee
The perfect recipe for compost is 3 parts “brown” or Carbon to 1 part “Green” or nitrogen. Brown items are things like shredded cardboard, fallen leaves, sawdust, paper or mulch. Green items are things like coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, grass cuttings, plant trimmings.
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Nitrogen Bomb: Coffee grounds are considered "Green Material" in composting. They provide the nitrogen necessary for fast, green growth.
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Worm Food: Earthworms absolutely love coffee grounds. They eat them, digest them, and aerate your soil in the process. More worms = better soil.
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The Acid Myth: A lot of people worry coffee will make their soil too acidic. Used grounds are actually pretty close to neutral (pH 6.5–6.8).Fresh (unbrewed) grounds are acidic, but the stuff from your filter is safe for almost anything.
Three Ways to Use Your Larry's Grounds
Once you’ve brewed your morning pot of Larry’s House blend, don’t toss the filter. Do this instead:
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The Compost Mix (Best Method): Dump the grounds and the paper filter (if it’s unbleached) into your compost bin. Mix it with "Browns" like dry leaves or cardboard. A ratio of 1 part coffee to 3 parts leaves is perfect.
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The "Top Dress" Sprinkle: Once broken down sprinkle a thin layer around your nitrogen-hungry plants (like kale, spinach, or corn). Scratch it into the soil so it doesn't bake into a hard crust.
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The Slug Barrier: Slugs and snails hate the gritty texture and the caffeine. Circle your hostas with grounds to keep the pests away naturally.
Why "Organic" Matters for Your Soil
This is the big one.
If you are trying to grow an organic vegetable garden, do not put non-organic coffee grounds in it.
Conventional coffee is sprayed with heavy pesticides and herbicides. If you compost those grounds, you are introducing those chemicals into your lettuce and tomatoes. Because Larry's Coffee is 100% Organic, our grounds are safe. You are adding nutrients, not toxins.
The Verdict from Larry’s
Gardening is just like coffee roasting: it’s about patience and good ingredients.
Drink the best coffee (like the Cowboy Blend) save the grounds, feed the worms, and eat the best tomatoes. It’s the circle of life, Raleigh style.
In this case one lady's trash really is another’s treasure! We love to see the potential hiding all around us and are excited to see what you all grow in your gardens!