Does the Sabrina Carpenter Espresso Drink Hack Really Work to Revive Your Garden?

If you've been sprucing up your home garden as the weather warms and becomes conducive to excellent growing conditions for so many beautiful flowers and trees, it's likely that you've been brushing up on the best gardening hacks to help your plant babies flourish. With an iced latte by your side and an array of gardening tools at your disposal, it's the perfect season for you and your plants to thrive.

Is it possible, though, that your latte can not only give you energy, but your plants as well?

According to a viral TikTok video, if you have plants and trees that are browning and not doing very well, a shot of espresso — or the Sabrina Carpenter drink from Dunkin' — can single-handedly revive the underwhelming flora of your garden.

Let's explore the veracity of these claims, whether such a "hack" is applicable in all situations, and what else to know if you're considering splashing shots of espresso throughout your garden.

According to a viral video posted on March 29 by TikTok user @brickbybrick034, it is an "old family secret," per the video's caption, that one can toss espresso onto a browning, floundering plant or tree in order to revive it.

In the video, user brickbybrick034 isn't seen carefully pouring Sabrina Carpenter's Brown Sugar Shakin’ Espresso drink directly towards the roots of the dying tree, but rather, tossing it haphazardly at the tree itself — lid, straw, ice, and sugary drink in all.

"Alright two months later wassup," writes one commenter who is understandably suspicious that brickbybrick034 claims the hack will revive the completely brown tree in the video, but no follow-up video has been made since his original March 2025 claim.

Certainly, no follow-up video raises red flags, and the uncareful, unceremonious way in which the creator gave the advice portends another misguided attempt at becoming famous on the back of terrible advice.

We know that coffee grounds are a terrific, nutrient-rich supplement that can help many plants in your garden and deter some insects deemed as pests, but as a lifelong gardener I would never recommend this "hack" unless you are, in every sense of the word, a hack with dubious intent.

To start, as the Bones Coffee Company explains, "caffeine...can be harmful to some plants. Caffeine acts as a natural pesticide, which can inhibit growth, particularly for seedlings and young plants. This is especially true for plants that are sensitive to caffeine and tolerate acidic soil poorly."

Next, the claim that a drink like the one depicted in the video — Sabrina Carpenter's Brown Sugar Shakin’ Espresso — could be fine for a dying plant or tree is extremely irresponsible.

Pouring an extremely sugary drink laden with plant milk, syrups, brown sugar, and who knows what else could attract insects that sabotage the growth of the plant or tree, and affect the health of the surrounding soil.

"Plants like their own self-made sugar that they created through photosynthesis," according to a PlantIn blog. "This self-made sugar helps them transition smoothly and build some healthy foliage, but this won’t be achieved if we use plain sugar between our watering."

There is also the ethical matter of making an unnecessary purchase of a drink that will be contained in a plastic cup with a plastic lid and straw, which will then be tossed along with its contents, generating food waste as well as plastic waste.

You are much better off consulting with a local nursery to determine which plants do and don't like coffee grounds, and giving your plants requisite care and attention in the first place.