Coffee lover shares brilliant tip to repurpose pill bottles for precise brewing: 'The convenience though'

There's nothing better than the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. A double-shot espresso is the top choice for those who like coffee with a kick. But when you're bleary-eyed and half-awake, measuring out the perfect 18 grams of beans can feel like a chore.

Fortunately, a Reddit user shared their tip for storing the precise amount of beans for the perfect cup of Joe.

The scoop

The Redditor displayed an image of stacked amber-colored plastic pill bottles — each filled with the perfect amount of coffee beans. They stated, "Maybe a better idea to just keep your empty pill bottles."

Their bean storage technique, posted on the r/espresso subreddit, cleverly adapted an everyday piece of trash into something useful. Now, instead of fumbling about in the kitchen, weighing out the ideal amount of beans for morning coffee, all one has to do is grab one of the plastic containers and pour the beans into a grinder. 

How it's helping

Sure, pill bottles aren't exactly chic coffee gear. Yet, this quick trick is an excellent way to reuse plastic containers that would otherwise end up in the trash and, eventually, the landfill. While not everyone may want to store coffee beans like this, this Redditor's unique idea could inspire better uses for leftover pill bottles.

This clever hack demonstrates how much waste occurs in daily life. It's easy to forget the amount of garbage a typical household adds to the landfill. A soda bottle here and a plastic medicine bottle there may not seem like a big deal. However, multiply that by 340 million people in the United States alone. That adds up to a lot of trash — 268 million tons, to be exact.

Worldwide, 2 billion metric tons of trash are thrown into landfills every year. With roughly 400 million tons of plastic produced yearly, much of which likely ends up in the trash — or even forests and oceans. Plastics, metals, glass, Styrofoam, and other materials resist landfill decomposition.

Fortunately, there are many recycling options out there that combat the problem. Like the Redditor, save glass and plastic containers for re-purposing. Or make money on old electronics rather than tossing them into the dumpster. Turning trash into treasure is only limited by one's imagination.

What everyone's saying

The online responses were mixed — practical admiration blended with a dash of aesthetic judgment.

One commenter joked about the look of the setup, prompting the original poster to reply, "Don't worry. I shamefully keep them hidden from view. The convenience though!"

When you think about a product's packaging, which of these factors is more important to you? The way it looks 😍 The information it provides 🧐 The waste it produces 🗑️ I don't think about packaging at all 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Another was more grateful for the tip, "Why didn't I [think] of this? And I work in a pharmacy with almost limitless of such bottles."

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