UPCYCLED INGREDIENTS
Upcycled coffee oil: circular beauty in action
Nageshvar Patel - Caffe Inc. ABSTRACT
Coffee (Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora) is one of the world’s most widely consumed beverages, generating millions of tonnes of SCG each year. For every kilogramme of coffee produced, approximately two kilogrammes of SCG are generated, creating an abundant by-product with significant potential for circular-economy applications. SCG, among several high values, contains 10-20% oil that represents a renewable source of high-value ingredients for personal care formulations.1,2 Growing demand for sustainable and upcycled
ingredients has increased interest in coffee oil. SCG oil is rich in linoleic, oleic and palmitic acids, coffee oil supports skin barrier function and hydration.3,4
effectiveness on skin firmness, elasticity, roughness and wrinkle depth as an anti-ageing ingredient for skin. Additionally, LCA data was also presented to highlight coffee oil’s dual value as both an effective and environmentally responsible cosmetic ingredient. The objective of this study was to evaluate a day cream with and without coffee oil in an in vivo test.
Additionally, coffee oil contains
bioactive compounds including cafestol, kahweol, tocopherols, phytosterols and terpenoids that contribute antioxidant and skin-protective activity.1,2 Cafestol and kahweol have also been reported
to exhibit antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and may inhibit elastase, an enzyme involved in elastin degradation, providing a potential mechanism for supporting skin firmness and elasticity.1,5 Combining sustainability with functional skin benefits, upcycled coffee oil represents a multifunctional cosmetic active for modern circular beauty formulations. Therefore, it is essential to test the effectiveness of upcycled coffee oil in skin cosmetics and also to compare its environmental impact in some of the most used oil in skin cosmetics formulation. Thus, coffee oil was evaluated for its
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Material and methods The clinical evaluation was a randomized, placebo- controlled, within-subject study conducted over 28 days. The study was independently performed by Derma Consult Concept GmbH (Bonn, Germany) between March and April 2026. Ethics approval and written informed consent were obtained in accordance with accepted standards for cosmetic clinical investigations.
Test materials Two oil-in-water day cream formulations were tested. Both contained identical excipient systems, differing only in the presence or absence
TABLE 1: CLINICAL TEST CREAM FORMULATIONS Formulation
Description Placebo cream Active cream
Oil-in-water cream base without Coffea Arabica/ Robusta Seed Oil
Identical oil-in-water cream base containing 3% coffee oil from Caffe Inc.
Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are an abundant by-product and a valuable source of cosmetic- grade coffee oil rich in linoleic acid, diterpenes, tocopherols and phytosterols. This article presents the efficacy of coffee oil as an anti- ageing cosmetic active and its sustainability profile. In a 28-day placebo-controlled study involving 20 female volunteers, a day cream containing coffee oil was compared with a placebo formulation. Skin roughness, wrinkle depth, firmness and elasticity were assessed at day 0, 14 and day 28. The coffee oil formulation reduced wrinkle depth by more than 15% versus placebo and delivered greater improvements in skin roughness, while firmness and elasticity improved in both groups. A lifecycle assessment (LCA) showed a lower climate impact than commonly used vegetable oils. These findings support upcycled coffee oil as an effective and sustainable ingredient for anti- ageing skin care
of Coffea Arabica/Robusta Seed Oil. The active formulation contained 3% of the oil (Caffe Inc. EspressOil®); the placebo formulation contained none. Products were coded to keep assessment blinded throughout the study.
Study cohort Twenty healthy female volunteers (35-65 years; mean age 48.5±10.7 years) participated in the study. Each participant served as her own control through untreated, placebo and 3% coffee oil treatment conditions, enabling evaluation across a representative range of age-related skin changes. All participants were female, thereby eliminating
sex as a confounding variable in the evaluation of skin biomechanical and topographical parameters.
Study design A randomized, placebo-controlled, intra- individual study design was employed to evaluate the cosmetic efficacy over a 28-day treatment period. Twenty female volunteers applied the active and placebo formulations twice daily (approximately 2 mg/cm2
per application) to
randomized, contralateral sites on the inner forearms, with an untreated forearm region serving as an internal negative control. For facial assessment, active and placebo
September 2026 PERSONAL CARE MAGAZINE
61
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