Sunday, September 10, 2006

Recycling Coffee

(image from Year of Coffee blog)

I think I mentioned that, like many writers, I have this coffee ritual thing going on (better than a Hemingwayesque booze thing to get me in the mood, I guess) but I actually only drink about 1/2 my mug, because a large part of this ritual is grooving on the aroma, the warmth, etc.

I've been feeling guilty (and not because of fertility reasons, see *** at bottom) leaving behind a half cup of smoky dark-roast organic coffee made with filtered water, and undoubtedly laboriously picked in a fair trade situation. My little brain has come up with two solutions so far:

(1) Make a better-than-the-real thing Starbuck's iced mocha by adding the coffee, a tsp. of Green & Black's awesome organic dark chcolate powder, and a little sweetener (I use agave syrup) plus equal parts rice milk and a leetle ice. (Green & Blacks is also a company devoted to ethical trading and organic products.)

(2) After noticing how tinted some items on my desk have become after the constant sloshing, I've decided once the weather gets too cold for iced coffee I'll save up the coffee and dye a neat organic t-shirt that I have that is wonderful, save for the fact that it's white and has a big yellow turmeric stain on the front. Stay tuned.

***The FertilityBitch is, O.J.-finding the -real-killer-like, working hard to clear the coffee's name as a possible infertility culprit. I'm taking an informal poll of people who've conceived and had successful pregnancies while quaffing the Joe. So far almost everyone I've queried said they did NOT stop while conceiving and the pregnancy, including a woman who works at a coffee roaster and who drank incredible amounts (she told me at the end of her pregnancy she "cut down" to just a "few" cups a day).

4 comments:

Alotta Errata said...

I feed the last of the pot (or cup) to my plants. They love it. I also save the grounds for gardening too. Since I have a very small garden (condo living)i don't need many. I keep them in an old sour cream container in the fridge. If I had a bigger garden I could get them from starbucks. They give their grounds for free.

GreenFertility said...

Hey Melissa,

Do you put the grounds in compost, or do you have a new super duper use for it??? Do tell!! I heard you can also burn coffee grounds in your fireplace...hm...

Alotta Errata said...

I don't compost since i'm in a condo... no place for a heap! I just put the grounds right around the base of the plant. In my potted plants it actually looks nice because of the even, dark color.

GreenFertility said...

Oooh, that's a great idea. We used an old organic buckwheat hull pillow's insides for mulch...very attractive!