Make Your House Smell Amazing with DIY French Vanilla Coffee Candles

Learn how to make coffee candles with vanilla beans and whole coffee beans. You'll get the perfect French vanilla flavor without the headache—and the scent is so good you kind of want to eat it.

Candle-making is one of those deceptively easy crafts. All you do is melt and pour! So it's fun to mix things up by adding texture (like with ice) or using a fun container (like a wine bottle).

I find the smell of most candles overwhelming—does anyone else get a headache just walking into a Yankee Candle store? I loved the smell of these, very warm and homey but not cloying.

Jump to:

• Coffee Candle Supplies
• French Vanilla Candle Instructions
• Substitutions

Coffee Candle Supplies

For a stronger scent, you can add a few drops of French vanilla fragrance oil or use a combination of coffee (my new favorite scent!) and vanilla essential oils.

• 4 ounces soy wax chips
• 1 candle wick
• Whole coffee beans
• Whole vanilla beans, chopped
• French vanilla fragrance oil
• 100 drops coffee essential oil
• 100 drops vanilla essential oil
• Candle containers

French Vanilla Candle Instructions

Step 1 | Melt wax

Using a double boiler or a microwave-safe bowl, melt the wax. The easiest way to melt the wax is to fill up a clean tin can and set it into a saucepan with an inch or so of water over medium heat but you can also melt the wax in the oven or a crockpot.

As the wax melts, add more chips if they didn't all fit initially.

Step 2 | Attach wick

Glue the wick in place at the bottom of the candle container or just hold it in place with your hand (at the top, of course).

Step 3 | Add fragrance

When the wax is melted, add the fragrance or essential oil. For essential oil candles, use 200 drops of EO for every 4 ounces of candle wax to get a noticeable scent.

Step 3 | Add coffee and vanilla beans

Add a few whole coffee beans and chop up 1–2 vanilla beans for a natural coffee scent. Pour in a small layer of wax and add a layer of coffee beans and vanilla beans.

Step 4 | Add remaining wax

Fill the rest of the cup with wax. Stir the wax with a chopstick to distribute the bean pieces, if desired.

Step 5 | Let wax harden + trim wick

Add a few coffee beans on top, then let the wax harden and trim the wick.

Substitutions

Wax — I love chopping up an old unscented candle and reusing the wax, but that's challenging here because you don't want to mix a bunch of different scents. Soy wax chips are probably the easiest to use because they have no smell, but beeswax would also work.

Scent — For a different coffee house flavor, try chai candles or experiment with different fall essential oil blends.

Wicks — You can also use wooden wicks.

Candle containers — You can raid your kitchen to find pretty bowls or cups. We filled up several of the tinted glass cups that were hanging around. They make lovely table decorations!

Photos by Ana Stanciu

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