Now that Spring has sprung (or whatever) it’s time to figure out what to do about those pests. And I don’t mean John Leguizamo in his 1997 thriller The Pest. Why would you even ask that?
No, I’m talking about pesky pests.
You know. Mosquitos. Who’s got one of those in their yard? Raise your hands.
A couple of you… alright, then I’ll continue. Keep your hands up.
Nothing kills a mood more than having mosquitos or other annoying creatures—flies, wasps, John Leguizamo—hanging around uninvited at your family barbecue.
And trust me, I know all about killing a mood—I know what I’m talking about here.
So what do we do about our bug problem?
Once again, coffee comes to the rescue.
That’s right. Your favorite thing in the world has yet another use: pest repellent!
Keep those bitches off your property—with coffee grounds!
Not only can coffee keep mosquitoes away, but several other “bite-y” and “sting-y” flying insects like bees, wasps, and hornets also find coffee repulsive. Clearly, they don’t know what they’re missing—but we’ll use their astonishing lack of taste to our advantage.
Recycled coffee grounds are a powerful weapon in the war on bugs, and they’re at their most potent when you burn them.
You see, many of these six-legged freaks have a strong sense of smell, and when they smell a combination of coffee—which they hate—and smoke—which they associate with danger—they’ll look elsewhere for a place to hang out. Like that one neighbor’s yard, hopefully.
So, how exactly do you keep bugs away with coffee? Here are the steps:
- Get some used coffee grounds—this shouldn’t be too hard. But make sure that they’re dry. If you only have fresh, wet coffee grounds, you’ll need to let them dry completely before you can use them.
- Place the dry grounds in a large, flat plate or a bowl—the type that you could safely burn incense in.
- Get a lighter—preferably one of the long lighters meant for lighting candle wicks, or a long electronic arc lighter, but you can use a regular lighter as long as you’re safe about it.
- Find a burning location that’s upwind, preferably—but not too windy, or it’ll blow out the burning grounds, or could even blow them all over the place. Once you find this good, safe spot, burn the coffee grounds just like you would burn incense.
The bugs should start keeping the hell away pretty quickly. They don’t like smoldering coffee grounds any more than they like burning coffee grounds, especially since they try to stay away from smoke. So if you can safely cover the burning grounds with a damp towel and let them smolder and smoke, you can try this instead.
Tip: If you have some handy, you can also add a couple bay leaves to your coffee grounds to repel flying insects even better. (Fresh bay leaves work better than old bay leaves for this, but insects don’t really like either one.)
