Facts about the coffee tree plant
- Coffee Tree Plants are Shrubs
- There are two commercially cultivated shrubs. Coffea Canephora (Robusta) and Coffea Arabica (Arabica).
- They are evergreen shrubs that can grow 5 m (15 ft) tall when unattended.
- The white flowers reveal themselves in fragrant clusters. The flower is followed by oval berries.
- The berries are green when immature, they ripen to yellow through to red, before turning black when dry.
- The seeds produced by the berry are known as the coffee bean. Usually a bean contains two seeds which grow in separate compartments within.
- Arabica shrubs generally self pollinate thus they produce uniform berries and seeds which rarely differ from their predecessors.
- Robusta shrubs require “outcrossing” which means that different aspects of different shrubs are added to the shrub.
- Robusta tends to produce a bitter but full bodied coffee which contains more caffeine than Arabica which tends to produce much sweeter beans.
How to grow your own coffee
- Coffee plants are fairly easy to grow in the home as a potted shrub, but you should move them outside when summer time comes.
- Filtered Sunlight is required for the best growth and at night time, the temperatures should be in the low to mid 15C and day temperatures of 21C or higher so you’re looking at a greenhouse in UK.
- The shrubs should be planted in good fast draining soil (that’s why Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is so good, it’s on slopes that allows good drainage)
- The soil should be kept moist but not drenched, it’s a bit of a balance.
- Although coffee plants fertilize themselves, you can add an all purpose soluble fertilizer once every 2 weeks between March – October and then once every month between November – February.
- Feel free to prune the shrub as they can reach 10 feet and higher.
- Coffee plants can take 4 years to start producing berries that are worth picking so you’re going to need to be patient.
How to pick your coffee crop
- The coffee beans will be ripe and red in Autumn.
- Only pick the ripe berries, if they are picked when green, the berries will not ripen off of the shrub.