I recently became a fan of mushrooms so this new coffeemaker is right up my alley!
This sleek looking new coffeemaker, brought to us by Columbian-born designers Adrián Pérez and Mauricio Carvajal (and dubbed “the HIFA”), repurposes used coffee grounds as fertilizer and soil for oyster mushrooms. While the repurposing of used coffee grounds isn’t anything revolutionary, they’re pretty much perfect for growing mushrooms. So, you’re probably wondering how it works. The coffee brewing part of the machine rests in the top of the HIFA unit, working much like a French press. Fill the carafe with grounds, close-to-boiling water and let it steep for around three minutes. There’s a mesh strainer in the carafe to keep the grounds separate from the delicious coffee. Once the carafe is lifted off the base, it leaves behind all the used coffee grounds in a small yellow cup. Taking the used grounds, you simply pour them into the lower part of the device, add a bit of mushroom root, water it down every so often and then wait for your mushroom caps to show up. The process is similar to other mushroom-growing projects, many of which come with mycelium.