Growing Coffee At Home

Let’s take a closer look at different coffee plants, and learn that growing coffee at home may not be as hard as you think!

Coffee is grown commercially in tropical and sub-tropical climates, mostly in developing countries. While the rest of the world consumes most of the coffee – up to 2 billion cups a day!

So while most of us can’t hope to compete with the big business that is coffee, we can grow coffee at home. And if you don’t have a garden, they make fabulous indoor plants.

Different coffee plants

Approximately 75 – 80% of the coffee in the world comes from the Arabian coffee plant (Coffea arabica). It’s grown commercially in what is known as the ‘bean belt’, which runs around the world between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This equatorial zone has the ideal climate for growing coffee. And, perhaps more importantly, the ideal elevation, between 800 and 2000m above sea level.

About 20 – 25% of the world’s coffee comes from Coffea canephora, also known as Robusta for its higher caffeine content, disease resistance and better yields, but there are a few more varieties that are becoming popular.

Liberica (Coffea liberica) grew in popularity after Arabica and Robusta plants were almost obliterated by coffee rust in the 19th century, and it now makes up 2% of the world’s production. It’s rare and therefore expensive, but also has the lowest caffeine content and a particularly woody taste with an aroma of flowers and fruit.

Coffea liberica var. dewevrei, also called Excelsa, is a variety of Liberica but with its own distinct flavour that is popular with coffee enthusiasts. It has a complex flavour and is often used in blends.

There are another 120 or so varieties of coffee plants but for the most part they’re of no commercial significance.

How They Grow

Coffee plants are unique in the way they grow. Their lateral branches stick out horizontally before weeping at the ends. They bear glossy green leaves for most of the year, and an explosion of scented white flowers appear along the leaf axils in spring and summer. These are followed by the green fruits that turn red when ripe, called ‘cherries’ in the industry. Once the cherries are ripe, they are picked and the skin removed. The inner pulp still surrounds a husk and inside this husk is the all-important bean that is roasted to produce coffee. Coffee trees can live for 60 years or more, and if looked after can yield coffee harvests year after year.

What They Need

Light

Coffee plants prefer morning sun and dappled or shaded areas for the afternoons. They grow naturally as an understory plant beneath trees so require some shade – full sun should be avoided as this can burn the leaves.

Temperature and Humidity

The ideal temperature range to grow coffee for the best bean flavour is between 15°C and 24°C. If the temperatures in your area drop below 5°C, rather plant coffee in containers that can be moved to a greenhouse, cover them with frost-protection fabric or grow them as houseplants. Coming from the equator, they like lots of humidity and misty conditions.

Soil

Coffee plants prefer rich loamy soil that has had plenty of nutrients added to improve the soil. The soil must be well-draining and never be waterlogged. Mulch is essential to retain water. Although coffee plants can be grown from green coffee beans, it’s best to buy plants from a nursery so that harvesting of beans will not take too many years.

Watering

Regular watering is necessary from spring to autumn. They need water to flower and set fruit, and a lack of water will prevent that from happening. As with many plants, there is a fine balance between enough water and overwatering: too much water is also bad for them, but allowing them to dry out between waterings in winter is okay.

Feeding

A regular feeding with a balanced, slow-release fertiliser is recommended in summer, and it should preferably also contain micronutrients such as zinc, iron, boron and magnesium. Look out for yellowing leaves and treat as an iron deficiency with chelated iron or other products for treating chlorosis.

Pruning

Pruning is necessary after harvesting the cherries to keep the plants healthy, to keep the plants compact and to make sure that light and air filters through all the branches for the best harvests. Prune away any damaged or diseased branches and prune so that the branches are evenly spaced.

Pets and diseases

The caffeine content in coffee plants makes them fairly pest and disease free. Caffeine acts as a natural repellent nd is part of the plant’s defence mechanism. That is also why using coffee grounds as an insect repellent in the garden can be very effective. There are times, however, that intervention may be needed for things like mealybugs, aphids, scale and leaf spot.

Harvesting

Harvest the cherries when they are fully ripe and a dark maroon colour. This is mainly in autumn and into winter.

READ MORE: Prepare the caffeine-free variety? Click here to learn more

Preparing The Beans For Roasting

Once the harvest has been collected, it’s necessary to remove the skin and pulp within 24 hours. Simply squeeze the berries by hand until they pop out of the skins. Then rinse in water and discard the leftover bits.

The next step in the process is fermentation. Place the beans in a bucket and cover with water. Set aside to ferment for at least 18 hours (check often). The natural enzymes ferment the pulp – when it becomes gritty the beans can be rinsed for the next stage.

The drying stage can take anything from 15 – 30 days depending on the weather. Place the beans in a single layer on trays and place in the sun. Cover from rain and move around every three days. The parchment around the beans will start to change colour to more of a creamy hue. They will become brittle. When they are fully dried, they should be hard and not soft or squishy at all. Dehydrators will dry them within a few hours.

The hard husk then needs to be cracked open to release the beans (endosperm). Place the beans on kitchen paper or clean tea towels and crush with a rolling pin. You can also add them to a food processor with plastic blades to crack open the husk. Rub the beans together to remove the silver skins.

Roasting At Home

There is plenty of good advice out there on how to roast your own beans. Depending on what type of coffee you prefer, the stages of roasting will go from green to yellow, light brown, dark brown, and finally to dark for bitter and full-bodied flavours. It’s also important to know that all the flavour we get in a cup of coffee comes from the roasting process. There are several ways to roast, including on a baking tray in an oven, in a frying pan or saucepan, stirring continuously until the right colour is achieved, or investing in commercial roasters if you have a good number of coffee plants.

The process of roasting is an art form and will probably require lots of experimentation until you get that impeccably roasted bean for that perfect cup of coffee. Even if you prefer not to go to all the trouble of harvesting and roasting, coffee plants are well worth growing in the garden as a small evergreen tree or as a houseplant.

READ MORE: Make a DIY coffee table!