Coffee addicts, rejoice: There’s a product out there that can both make your sipping more sustainable and your cooking more caffeinated. Enter coffee flour, a baking ingredient made from the unused fruit that surrounds coffee beans.
The fruit usually gets tossed into streams or left to rot in the fields, and is creating 23 million tons of waste a year, according to Roast Magazine. The USDA estimates 156 million coffee bags will be produced this year—which means a ton more waste, unless we start giving our baking a little buzz.
Coffee flour doesn’t look like your morning cup of grounds. It’s a dense, grainy golden wheat-colored flour that comes in two grinds, fine and powder. The fine grind is best used in baking recipes, while the powder grind works well with ice cream, beverages and sauces. Though coffee flour doesn’t necessarily taste like coffee (it has a, chalky, medicinal flavor on it’s own), but like it’s bean siblings, it retains notes of roasted fruit and citrus. It’s best complemented with other spices and balanced out with at least one other flour, with the best results using a 10 to 25 percent flour substitution.
Coffee flour also has some impressive nutritional benefits as well—perhaps most notably that it’s gluten-free. It also packs as much potassium as fresh spinach, more fiber per gram than whole grain wheat flour, and more antioxidants per gram than a pomegranate.
But caffeine lovers be warned: Coffee flour can’t get you totally buzzed. While there is a small amount of caffeine—about 12 milligrams of caffeine per ounce— you’ll likely still want to pair your Coffee flour muffin with a true dark roast.
Chef Anne Altarejos, owner of Los Angeles based “Let’s Eat it All Up,” uses coffee flour in her red velvet cake with southern style buttercream (made with a roux of milk and coffee flour instead of the usual flour, butter, and sugar). She also uses the flour in her cocoa ice cream to thicken the ice cream base.
“I love being able to use Coffee flour as a product that is creating less waste for the world,” Altarejos explains. “Using it with other flours is a great addition to any recipe, and it’s a great dairy substitution for a vegetarian or vegan spin on a recipe, or for people who are looking for a healthier baking option. In general, you need to use at least twice as much Coffee flour to get the same kind of sauce thickness, and I suggest using it as an addition in a dough-like recipe.”
Packed full of nutrients and touted to be an environmental waste game changer, this flour is certainly worth the buzz.
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Grieving couple comforting each other
This response to someone grieving a friend might be the best internet comment ever
When someone is hit with the sudden loss of a friend or loved one, words rarely feel like enough. Yet, more than a decade ago, a wise Redditor named GSnow shared thoughts so profound they still bring comfort to grieving hearts today.
Originally posted around 2011, the now-famous reply was rediscovered when Upvoted, an official Reddit publication, featured it again to remind everyone of its enduring truth. It began as a simple plea for help: “My friend just died. I don't know what to do.”
What followed was a piece of writing that many consider one of the internet’s best comments of all time. It remains shared across social media, grief forums, and personal messages to this day because its honesty and metaphor speak to the raw reality of loss and the slow, irregular path toward healing.
Below is GSnow’s full reply, unchanged, in all its gentle, wave-crashing beauty:
Why this advice still matters
Mental health professionals and grief counselors often describe bereavement in stages or phases, but GSnow’s “wave theory” gives an image more relatable for many. Rather than a linear process, grief surges and retreats—sometimes triggered by a song, a place, or a simple morning cup of coffee.
In recent years, this metaphor has found renewed relevance. Communities on Reddit, TikTok, and grief support groups frequently reshare it to help explain the unpredictable nature of mourning.
Many readers say this analogy helps them feel less alone, giving them permission to ride each wave of grief rather than fight it.
Finding comfort in shared wisdom
Since this comment first surfaced, countless people have posted their own stories underneath it, thanking GSnow and passing the words to others facing fresh heartbreak. It’s proof that sometimes, the internet can feel like a global support group—strangers linked by shared loss and hope.
For those searching for more support today, organizations like The Dougy Center, GriefShare, and local bereavement groups offer compassionate resources. If you or someone you know is struggling with intense grief, please reach out to mental health professionals who can help navigate these deep waters.
When grief comes crashing like the ocean, remember these words—and hang on. There is life between the waves.
This article originally appeared four years ago.