Coffeeopolis

FAQ: Growing coffee

November 14th, 2006

Just about anyone can grow coffee plants in their homes…all it takes is a comfortable living environment, and lots of light (coffee plants don’t do too well in dim rooms, I speak from experience here!). Still, the results won’t be comparable to the towering coffee plants you may see on the side of the road in Hawaii. Why? Well, for starters, keep in mind that coffee is a tropical plant…warm, moist environments will be best. Also, the ideal growing environment is at higher altitudes (4000-6000 feet elevation), where the cooler nighttime temperatures help slow the coffee cherries’ growth, resulting in more concentrated flavors and better acidity. Coffee plants like rich volcanic soil with good drainage, and also care should be taken when harvesting the coffee - only the ripe cherries should be picked, while the others are given more time to ripen (it may be a few months between when the first and last cherries are harvested from a particular plant!).

I have several coffee plants. One is almost ten years old, a scraggly three foot tall plant resembling the Christmas Tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas. While it thrived initially, it suffered from conditions of too little light and is currently undergoing intensive sunlight therapy. Never in that time have I seen a single blossom, let alone a coffee cherry! On the other hand, a healthy young plant I picked up last spring has done incredibly well, and is almost three feet tall but more importantly, is lush and full of healthy new leaves. What’s the difference? Well, the new plant has been better fertilized, but more importantly, it’s lived its entire life outside. Here in California, frost is not a concern for most of the year (freezing temperatures will kill coffee plants), so this new plant has been living on the patio, underneath a translucent plastic patio cover and receiving a very healthy dose of sunlight. Add to that plenty of water, and occasional misting of the leaves, and this plant is thriving…maybe I’ll finally have some coffee cherries to harvest next year???

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