Homemade Peppermint Coffee Candle

This DIY peppermint coffee candle makes a fantastic homemade gift for all the coffee lovers in your life.

My husband is a huge coffee lover. In fact, the one thing that absolutely must be in his stocking every year is good coffee. He is a major coffee drinker and seeing coffee in his stocking seems to make him as happy as a big pile of chocolate makes me. 

So every year I find some really good coffee for him and after all of the presents and stockings have been opened, I have some Christmas chocolate for breakfast and he enjoys some yummy coffee. It’s a quiet relaxing time when we can slow down and enjoy the day before the craziness of cooking and visiting family begins.

This year I decided to kick things up a notch.

So not only is he getting some delicious coffee, he’s also getting a new roomy coffee mug and a peppermint coffee scented candle. (What coffee fiend doesn’t love the delicious smell of coffee!)  

Because I love handmade gifts, I decided to make the candle. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but there are several important things to keep in mind. 

Of course, I didn’t figure those things out until I totally messed up the first candle so I made a second candle. And I’m going to share all of my tips with you guys so you don’t make the same mistakes that I did.

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Materials

• Candle making kit – if you are planning to make several candles, you can buy a candle making kit that will have most of the things you need. If you buy a kit, you will still need to buy coffee and peppermint oil separately. But if you are only using one candle, you can probably find most of the materials you need around the house for much cheaper.
• Candles to melt for wax – You can use old half melted candles you already own or buy some new candles at the dollar store. Either way, make sure they are unscented.
• Candle with a wick – At least one candle needs to have an intact wick. I got a box of plain white emergency candles at the dollar store to make sure I had plenty of wicks in case I messed up. Which I did.
• Clean can – for melting the wax
• Pot – to boil water in
• Strainer – to strain the wax once it’s melted
• Nice jar – to hold your candle
• Straw or pencil – to hold the wick up while the candle hardens
• Peppermint oil – to add peppermint scent, you can skip this if you just want a coffee scented candle
• Coffee – any kind will work, but a darker roast will give a stronger scent

How to Make a DIY Peppermint Coffee Scented Candle

Start by boiling some water in your pot. 

Make a double boiler by placing a clean tin can in the boiling water and put your candles or candle pieces in the can. 

Be sure to melt more wax than you think you will need. It is always better to have extra than not enough. (That is one of those lessons I learned the hard way.) 

I also added a rock to the bottom of my can because it kept trying to float away.

While the wax is melting, make sure the jar you are using for your candle is clean. 

Fish a wick from one of your candles out of the melted wax and attach it to the straw so that it hangs down to the bottom of the jar. Make sure that it is centered and straight.

Add one or two tablespoons of coffee grounds to the wax along with a few drops of peppermint oil.

Let the wax heat for a few more minutes to make sure the coffee really permeates it.

Set your jar with the wick on a few paper towels in case of splatters. 

Hold a strainer or colander over the jar and carefully pour about 75% of the wax into the jar through the strainer. This will strain out extra coffee grounds and wicks. 

(Please be very careful and use an oven mitt because the can will be super hot!) 

Leave the remaining 25% in the can for now.

Immediately clean the strainer using some of the boiling water from the pot – this will keep your strainer from getting all waxy. 

Let your candle fully cool – this will probably take a few hours. 

Once it is fully cool, there will probably be a giant crater in the top of it. I thought I had royally messed up at first, but it turns out this is normal. 

Boil some more water and reheat the wax that is left in the can. 

Pour it through the strainer into your jar until the crater is completely filled in and allow the candle to cool again. 

If there is stray wax around the top of your jar from the pouring, just scrape it off. (I used my fingernail, but a butter knife would also do the trick.)

During the cooling process most of the coffee grounds that were still in the wax floated to the top and created a layer of coffee on top of my candle. 

I really liked how it looked but there were a few bare spots so I just filled the holes with some more coffee grounds before it fully hardened on top.

Then trim your wick and that is it!

I decided to add a little pizzazz to my candle with some gold sparkly washi tape. My husband might not care if his candle looks good, but I like it!

I’m planning to add all the coffee goodness to my husband’s stocking. (Yep, we have huge stockings.) 

But this would also make a super cute gift basket for the coffee lover in your life.

I threw mine into an old wooden caddy we have – seems like the perfect gift basket for a hard-to-shop-for man if you ask me!

What would you add to a coffee lover’s gift basket (or stocking)?  I’d love to hear more ideas!