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On Coffee and Worm Composting

by · May 14th, 2009
Coffee, Compost

coffee_cup

Welcome to Part II of the “Worm Diaries: Chronicles of an Apartment-dwelling Vermicomposter.”  In the last episode, I wondered whether putting bread in my worm bin rendered it as chametz for Passover.  (Click here for the answer.)

This time around, my question is about coffee – as in, is it possible to over-caffeinate my worms?  As work-from-home freelancers, my husband and I make a pot of coffee just about every morning.  That means, almost every afternoon, I dump a fresh pile of coffee grounds into our compost bin.  Like me, the worms seem to love the stuff – favoring it over crushed egg shells, the ends of a cereal box, and even minced up vegetable bits.  But while I haven’t noticed any serious behavioral changes (is it even possible to notice behavioral changes in worms?), I worry that our coffee habit might have negative impacts on “the babies.”  (God, please protect my future children from their future over-protective Jewish mother.  Amen.)

Any advice – anecdotal or otherwise – from more-seasoned composters would be greatly appreciated!

Photo from Wikimedia

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4 Responses to “On Coffee and Worm Composting”

  1. Avigail Says:
    May 17th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    I’m visiting with a friend who lives in Portland this week and asked her a couple of questions about her worms. They’re lucky enough to get stumptown coffee regularly and also love it – in fact, besides (organic only!) banana peels she says coffee grounds are among their very favorite things…so I’m sure you’re not alone in some very caffeinated worm friends.

  2. sarah m Says:
    May 17th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    My parents’ elderly neighbor said her husband fed coffee grounds to the worms in their compost for decades. She said he swore it made them fat and plentiful and great for fishing.

  3. Leah Koenig Says:
    May 17th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    ha! thanks Avi :)

    sarah m – my mom, who loves to fish, will be happy to hear about this!

  4. Rabbi Shmuel Says:
    May 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    hi Leah – let your worms tell you what they want – if they’re eating them, well great, – if they’re not and the bin is starting to get funky, well then don’t use as much.

    I too am a java joe and the worms seem to like it a lot – I wouldn’t go to starbux and get 500 pounds of it but basically organic material is organic material

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