Just once is good enough. It would be best if you used your coffee grounds for brewing only one time. But if there are no fresh grounds available, you can reuse the coffee grounds for cold brew.
However, you should note that you already get most of the goodness the first time. All that remains are small quantities of good flavors with many off-flavors. The interesting part is that the first brewing doesn’t get mixed with the off-flavors until you’re going for a re-run. A cold brew can still take a lot of the flavor out on the second brewing.
Can You Use Coffee Grounds Twice for Cold Brew?
Yes, you can use coffee grounds for cold brew twice! But you can be sure that the flavor of the first coffee brew would be much richer than the second. The first brew will also be a lot stronger in caffeine than the reused coffee grounds.
It is better to reuse with a cold brew than any other brewing method. You can still get a satisfying drink from the used coffee grounds, but still not like the first brew. When you used the coffee grounds the first time, the aromas, complex flavors, and oils were extracted. The second brewing has a lot less to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you made the coffee yourself or used pods in a drip brewer. The brewing ratio (with regards to the volume of water and coffee and the extraction time) gets balanced to offer you the optimal taste. That’s how the science of coffee brewing works. However, it’s mostly applicable to the first brewing and not the reuse.
Don’t reuse your coffee beans more than twice. There’s nothing left for you to enjoy there, it won’t taste nice, and you might end up throwing the cup away.
Your best option for reusing coffee grounds is to make cold brew coffee. When making a cold brew coffee, you need to let the coffee steep for longer, making the flavor even stronger. You can also mix your cold brew coffee with milk or ice, whichever you like, or both. With a cold brew coffee, you may not notice much difference in the taste.
What Happens If You Brew Coffee Twice?
Considering that you actually don’t mind reusing your coffee grounds the second time, the question is, what happens then? If you are curious about what happens when you reuse coffee grounds, you can get an idea of some of the things below.
The coffee becomes over-extracted, and the taste turns bitter. Usually, this happens when you reuse the coffee grounds immediately. It is not advisable to make a second coffee cup with the same coffee grounds used a few minutes earlier. The second brew would most likely be astringent and quite bitter to taste.
The coffee becomes weak in caffeine and dulls in flavor. Reusing the coffee grounds saps out the flavor. You hardly get all the taste and aroma you expect from a good coffee cup.
As a coffee enthusiast, you might not be too excited about the outcome of reused coffee grounds. It is also better not to expect too much as you might end up sorely disappointed.
It should be clear to you that you’re not getting a great cup of coffee from used coffee grounds like the fresh one. Having said that, if you are concerned about your coffee’s taste profiles and ratios, then you shouldn’t bother at all.
You can only sweeten things up with additional ingredients and adding some other flavors to your coffee. It will taste much better with some decent amount of sugar and creamer in your coffee. You might be able to skip the lurking difference.
The next thing is that reusing your coffee grounds twice a day is still bearable. But, leaving it till the following is not a good idea. You don’t want to leave your used coffee grounds beyond that day to reuse. It’s not advisable.
There is something you will discover as you continually use and dry the grounds between uses. You will find that the moist and soggy grounds are an ideal breeding surface for fungi, molds, and bacteria. Imagine leaving them sitting around for two or more days; you’ll want to throw them away.
Making a great coffee is like science. You have to make sure you add the right proportion of water to coffee, the water temperature, brewing proceeds, and the steeping time. Everything needs to be done well to make a perfect coffee; you lose all trying to reuse the coffee grounds.
You need an optimum amount of extract to get the intense flavor we all love about taking coffee. Reusing takes all that away, leaving you with a bittersweet taste.
Nonetheless, it doesn’t matter if you really need a cup, and there are no fresh grounds available. You can make fair use of the coffee grounds again. Just sweeten it with sugar and a little milk as compensation for the diminished flavor.
Final Thoughts
It is possible to reuse ground beans to make more coffee, but you won’t get the best coffee cup as you love it. If you still need to reuse, the best and suitable re-brewing option you’ve got is the cold brew method.
Nonetheless, you won’t get a significant caffeine concentration, so don’t expect any caffeine kick.
I wouldn’t recommend trying any of these other methods like Aeropress, French press, or Espresso machine re-brewing. However, if you want to try, you are free to check if any of them works fine for you. No matter what, don’t try reusing yesterday’s coffee grounds.
Based on my opinion, I don’t recommend doing a second extraction or re-brewing for another cup of coffee. It just doesn’t deliver the best quality, and who doesn’t want the best always? That’s my recommendation, but you can always make good use of what you have.