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Grade 11 Louisians discover organic use of Coffee Grounds

by Danielle Espinueva and Christine Martinez

As part of their research subject, a group of Grade 11 students found a new use for
discarded coffee grounds in organic agriculture.

The study was entitled “Coffee Grounds Compost Tea” wherein the group was composed of
Joaquin Decena, Justin Macagba, Dhafnie Coloma, Angel Laurena, and Mary Siazon and headed by
Joshua Angelo Simangan and Jeannel Barros.

Barros stated, “We (the researchers) decided that coffee grounds will be our main
ingredient since it is taking much space in our landfill, and it has three macronutrients mainly
nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that is needed by the plants. Also, we came up with the idea to
make it as compost tea for it to be a nutrionally rich & well-balanced fertilizer.”

She also added that aside from promoting solid waste management, they also aim to uplift
organic agriculture through resolving soil degradation as a result of chemical fertilizers as 5.2M
hectares of land have already been degraded in the Philippines.

“Compost teas are not popular among local farmers and with our research, we can promote
and introduce many benefits of using one. Our research is the first one to utilize coffee grounds as
main ingredient for the compost tea since we did not find any related articles or reference about it
here in the Philippines. It is practical because the ingredients used can be easily found in our homes
and the procedure can be easily done,” she said when she was asked behind the success of their
research.

Due to the effectiveness and the practicability of their product, the study was presented at
the 2019 Regional Inventions Contest and Exhibits (RICE) held in Candon City last October 16.

Compost Teas refer to fertilizers in liquid form, where instead of kitchen scraps, the group
used coffee grounds as their main ingredient.