Epic Body Scrub | Repurposing Old Coffee Beans

What do you do when you find an old, unopened bag of coffee hiding in the depths of your cupboard? What if it's a pound of Epic Espresso by 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters that is quickly approaching the second anniversary of its roast date? *gasp*

Well, after lamenting that you didn't vacuum seal and freeze said beans back in the summer of 2015, you quickly find a sensible way to repurpose them—which brings us to this recipe for Epic Body Scrub.

#ThingsThatGoWithCoffee

This easy recipe is one part coffee, one part sugar, and one part coconut oil with an optional splash of vanilla. You can go as coarse or as fine on with grind as you'd prefer. I personally like to keep the size of the coffee grounds consistent with the size of the sugar granules. 

Stale coffee and sugar are two things on the outs as far as food trends go. (I'm not sure stale coffee was ever 'in' as much as we just weren't aware that we were drinking it). Anyway, this recipe is a great way to use up old beans, and to prevent you from ingesting your sugar stash. 

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Epic Body Scrub

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Coffee ground for espresso
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Coconut Oil
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla *optional

Method:

1. Thoroughly mix all ingredients together in a bowl using a fork.
2. Transfer into a watertight container. 
3. When you are ready to scrub, use a spoon or scoop the scrub into the palm of your hand, ensuring water stays out of the container. 
4. Use the Epic Body Scrub to exfoliate your skin. Do not use on your face.
5. Enjoy!

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I've experimented with adding so many different things to this scrub—dried lavender, lavender essential oil, sage essential oil, bergamot oil, etc—but nothing complimented the aroma of the coffee, sugar, and coconut oil mixture better than vanilla. Of course you can opt out of of the vanilla, but if you're looking for a little more sweetness, go ahead and mix a half teaspoon in. 

There have been a lot of claims made about the benefits of coffee scrubs such as improving circulation, or reducing cellulite, but I am not going to vouch for any of those here. What I will say is this scrub feels great on the skin and the coconut oil is super hydrating. I wouldn't use this Epic Body Scrub to exfoliate more than two or three times a week, and would never use it on my face—it's far too coarse. 

To keep your epic scrub fresh store it in a water tight container and use a spoon to scoop it into your hand as you need. By keeping water out of your coffee scrub mixture it will last longer. 

Fun fact: I photographed this recipe on a farm in the country and went foraging for these gorgeous wildflowers for the photo shoot. 

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