Coffee beans and tea leaves contain large amounts of potentially metal-chelating substances which could remain in the wastes after extraction by hot water. The following two experiments have been carried out: a) an incubation experiment with the objective of verify whether coffee grounds and green tea wastes could be used as an Fe chelating agent to increase Fe availability to plants in the soil; b) a pot experiment to verify the effect of those composts on the Fe content of the edible part of vegetables. Japanese leaf radish (Raphanus raphanus sp), whose the leaves are the edible part, was chosen as test plant. Calcareous subsoil (shell fossil soil) with original pH 9.3 and a B horizon of Andisol (Typic melanu dand) with pH adjusted to 7.7 were used. For the incubation experiment, the treatments included of the direct addition of Fe at rates ofO (control), 10, 20 and
40 1-1g g-1 dry soil as ferrous sulfate (FS); coffee