Kahyve Join testing

Shoe trees • Deodorizing pellets

Give coffee grounds a second life. Give your spaces a fresher one.

Kahyve transforms spent coffee grounds into functional deodorizing products designed to absorb moisture, reduce unwanted odors, and give coffee waste a new purpose.

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Kahyve shoe tree and a bag of deodorizing pellets next to a white sneaker Made from spent coffee grounds

Why Kahyve?

What if yesterday’s coffee could become tomorrow’s useful product?

A bag of Kahyve pellets hanging from a wooden clothes hanger next to a houseplant

Every day, large amounts of coffee grounds are left behind after brewing. At the same time, shoes, wardrobes, cars, and other enclosed spaces often struggle with moisture and unwanted odors.

Kahyve explores how spent coffee grounds can be transformed into practical products instead of simply becoming waste.

  1. Coffee waste

  2. New material

  3. Useful products

Kahyve Shoe Tree

Shape. Freshness. Circular thinking.

Kahyve Shoe Tree is made primarily from spent coffee grounds and designed to be placed inside shoes when they are not being worn.

Made from spent coffee grounds

Being developed for three functions

  • Maintain shoe shape

    Helps reduce deformation during storage.

  • Manage moisture

    The coffee-based material is being tested for moisture absorption.

  • Reduce unwanted odors

    Designed to help keep shoes fresher between uses.

  • Kahyve shoe tree on a cream linen throw, seen from the side
  • The hollow underside of a moulded Kahyve shoe tree
  • Dark Kahyve shoe tree resting on linen in soft daylight

Kahyve Deodorizing Pellets

Small pellets. Multiple possibilities.

Kahyve Pellets turn spent coffee grounds into a flexible deodorizing material that can be packed into breathable bags and placed wherever freshness is needed.

The pellets are being developed to absorb moisture and unwanted odors and can also be explored as a carrier for natural fragrances or essential oils.

Coffee-ground pellets spilling out of a breathable fabric bag onto linen

Wherever freshness is needed

A few ideas to start with. The pellets go anywhere a small bag fits.

  • A bag of Kahyve pellets hanging among jumpers in a wardrobe Wardrobes
  • Fridge
  • Cars
  • Bathroom
  • Small enclosed spaces

How Kahyve is made

Four steps from cup to product

  1. Freshly ground coffee piled up Step 01

    Collect

    Spent coffee grounds are collected and prepared for reuse.

  2. Close-up of the pressed coffee-ground material Step 02

    Formulate

    The coffee grounds are combined with other functional ingredients.

  3. A freshly moulded shoe tree showing its hollow form Step 03

    Shape & dry

    The material is shaped into shoe trees or pellets and carefully dried.

  4. Kahyve shoe trees in use with a white sneaker Step 04

    Use again

    Coffee waste returns to everyday life as a new functional product.

  1. Coffee shop
  2. Spent coffee grounds
  3. Kahyve production
  4. Shoe Tree / Pellets
  5. User

Circular story

A small product with a circular idea

Kahyve is built around a simple principle: Use what already exists

By exploring spent coffee grounds as a secondary raw material, we aim to:

  1. Reduce waste

    Find new uses for coffee by-products.

  2. Extend material value

    Keep resources in use longer.

  3. Develop locally

    Explore partnerships with coffee shops and businesses.

  4. Design practically

    Create products people can use in everyday life.

Our journey

From coffee waste to a physical prototype

Kahyve started with a question: could spent coffee grounds become a useful material rather than waste?

Since then, we have experimented with different formulations, natural adhesives, activated charcoal, molding, compression, drying methods, and product forms.

Today, we have physical prototypes and are moving into the next stage: testing them with real users, collecting feedback, and improving the products.

Two halves of the aluminium shoe tree mould
01 The mould
Loading the coffee-ground mixture into the press
02 Loading the press
A freshly formed shoe tree held up outdoors
03 Fresh out of the mould
A finished Kahyve shoe tree showing its moulded hollow form
04 Today’s version

About Kahyve

Coffee deserves more than one life.

Kakahvi · coffee
hyvehyve · virtue
Kahyvea good quality

The products were given the brand name Kahyve. The name combines “Ka,” derived from the Finnish word kahvi, meaning coffee, and “hyve,” meaning virtue or a good quality.

Our goal is to combine circular thinking, experimentation, and practical product design to transform an overlooked by-product into useful everyday products.

Kahyve is a circular product development project exploring new applications for spent coffee grounds, supported by the HUBS Sustainable Entrepreneurship Grant at Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

Kahyve box with a shoe tree on top and a bag of pellets beside it

Your coffee’s journey doesn’t have to end in the cup.

Be part of the next chapter of Kahyve. Sign up for product testing, talk to us about a partnership, or just say hello.

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