Grow Your Own Cup of Joe

Want to grow your own Joe?It won’t be easy. But it will be an adventure.

In the wild, they stretch up to 25 feet tall. 

Normally, Coffea arabica trees grow near the Equator.

As houseplants, though, they top out at about six feet. Some people trim them to a more manageable size. Eventually, a coffee plant will produce red “cherries.” Each cherry contains two seeds. These seeds are coffee beans. 

Plant your tree in a well-draining potting mix. Keep the plant slightly moist but never soggy or completely dry. Water thoroughly once every week or two, and then not again until the soil is half dry.

Place the pot in a  warm room. Your plant  won’t like drafts of  cold air. But it will love  bright, indirect light.  Place it to the side of a  sunny window. Mist  the plant every day,  or run a humidifier  nearby. Feed your plant four  times each year with  a balanced fertilizer.

To get beans, you’ll have to hand-pollinate the flowers using a cotton swab or a small artist’s paintbrush. Transfer pollen from one blossom to the next.

Your coffee plant should start blooming when it’s three to five years old. In other words: Once you get enough beans for a cup, you might be old enough to drink coffee. And you’ll be so exhausted from taking care of the plant that you might need some!