According to artist Liv Buranday, aka @livscreams, coffee is for much more than just drinking! As the Philippines-based nursing student watched her father one morning, she was inspired by his love for coffee and she began experimenting with the grounds as a medium for her artwork. She says, “I’ve always known him to love brewed coffee, and then a thought popped out when he opened that Folgers Classic Roast—perhaps I can use its contents as art.” Thus, the hashtag #groundcoffeeart was born.

For each minimalist illustration, Buranday uses her hands and a toothpick to organize the dark brown granules into the clever arrangements, occasionally adding 3D elements like leaves or small sticks to complete the scene. The results are short narratives that tell the stories of all kinds of adorable characters.

Buranday photographs each piece against a white background and shares the creations via Instagram. To make the works even more permanent, she has recently starting applying glue because she says her “patience was really tested” with all of the loose granules all over the place!