DIY Coffee Harvest

Grow, roast and brew your own coffee!

Step 1 Find a suitable coffee plant

This is the coffee plant I bought for $30 on eBay a few years ago. Coffee 'plants' are actually small coffee trees and will get quite large over their lifespan. Mine was about a foot and a half tall when I got it, but is quite large these days and sits in a 30 gallon pot. The tree stays outside during spring and summer, but it comes inside well before the first frost in the fall.  I keep it trimmed to the size of the container. (In case you're wondering, I live in Zone 7a)

There are plenty of online nurseries that sell coffee trees and you should look for the species Coffea arabica which produces the bean we are most familiar with in North America.

Be patient with your tree and take good care of it.  It needs to mature before it will flower and fruit and this could take a few years. It will take a couple months after the flowers fall off for the fruit (beans) to start growing.

Comments

[Kiteman]

Can you translate for non-Americans; what is a "zone 7a"?

[Scott_Tx]

Its the zone that cant drive in half an inch of snow :P

[spikec]

Hah, good one and mostly true.

[Don,t try this at home]

hey i bet u wont say it to my face :p lol

[Mr. TiKi]

http://www.gardenurway.com/Portals/0/2006-arborday-org-hardiness-zone-map.png