The corrosion protection of C38 steel in 1M HCl solution with hydro-alcoholic used coffee grounds extract (HECG) was studied using measurements of hydrogen gas evolution, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. This work revealed that the HECG studied acts as a mixed type inhibitor. It has also been shown that the corrosion inhibition efficiency (IE) increases with increasing extract concentration, an IE value of 97.4% was reached with 2 g/L HECG. The inhibitory action of the inhibitor was mainly due to the adsorption of HECG molecules on the C38 steel surface. The studies have shown that HECG adsorbs on the C38 steel surface according to Langmuir's isotherm, with a standard free energy (ΔG⁰_ads) of −18,477 KJ mol⁻¹, which means that HECG delays the corrosion process by physical adsorption. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) study confirmed that corrosion inhibition of C38 steel occurs by adsorption of inhibiting molecules on the metal surface. These results show that the HECG can be used as an excellent corrosion inhibitor for C38 steel in a hydrochloric acid medium.