Kona Coffee Tree & Coffee Arabica

June 2004

We have pruned back this tree massively. New growth has started, but it'll be a while for the next cup. Have a few more baby plants going strong too...

2002
Prevailing wisdom says: It will take from three to five years before you will see any fruit on your coffee tree and do not be surprised if it does not produce any coffee you want to drink unless you REALLY, REALLY know what you are doing.

Not so fast...

My coffee story starts sometime back in 2001. And it has a much different ending.

Well, this plant got added to the garden family when I went into a local plant selling establishment,a boutique that kind of tends toward the more exotic and cooler kind of plants, and said, "What's this?" and the guy said, it's a Kona coffee tree. And I thought, "Wow. How cool. A coffee tree."

Never even thought about having one of those, and truthfully, Starbucks pervasiveness notwithstanding I have actually pretty much stopped drinking the stuff, as a mere sip or two can send caffeine-sensitive me flying higher than some ravester who just ingested some E and is looking for one hell of a fun loving party. So I bought this tree just based on the sheer coolness factor of having such a weird plant in my yard. With it's dark leaves and red beans though, it's actually quite attractive.

We had a bit of scare when we first realized it needed a lot more water than it was getting, because unfortunately that was after some of the leaves had started to seriously brown. But ever since we started treating it like a plant that thrives in the rainforest (this falls into the duh, we should have known category), it seems to be doing great.

As for harvesting, well, I had no idea what ripe coffee beans look like, and since I kind of bought the plant on impulse, I really hadn't given a whole hell of a lot of consideration about what would happen after it was under my care. Apparently, the beans start out green, after a while, turn red, and then ripen into a really deep maroon color. Fortunately for me, the woman who cleans our house, Rosario, had her mom in to visit from El Salvador and brought her over during her month-long stay in the US to our house to help Rosario with the housework. Mom worked hard, and was in great shape for a woman her age, but you know, of course she was happy to help her child she hadn't even been able to see for soemthing like 8 years, proving that even if your child is 40, she'll always be a baby to you if you're her Mom! Anyway, Mom tripped out on the coffee plant when she went to hang out in the yard to take a break--apparently, she harvests coffee in El Salvador during certain times of the year to make some extra cash, so lo and behold, I had an expert on hand who could show me what a ripe bean looks like and explain the entire process of how to dry them for usage. So we're still waiting until we have enough beans that are ripe to actually get enough coffee together to make up a batch...but hey, at least now I know what to do!

April 2002

Once the beans were harvested, Rosario peeled them, and I allowed them to dry in a container in the spare bedroom. (Note: I live in a dry climate so with the blinds kep closed, I can dry herbs in this room too.) The next time Rosario's Mom was at our house, we roasted the coffee in a pan over the stove, adding in some pieces of vanilla bean thread toward the end just to give Starbucks a run for their money. (if you want some suggestions for other flavorings, you can look here.) We then ground up everything in the coffee grinder just as we would have done with beans we bought in a store. We served the coffee at a dinner we had a few days later, and every single one of our friends thought the coffee was absolutely delicious! And so did I. And I am an admitted coffee snob, mainly because I drink coffee so rarely because of my caffeine sensitivity that if I'm going to have any it better be damn good! But this was truly some of the best coffee I ever had. I'm sure it was the freshest, and I guess that counts for a lot. Far exceeded my expectations, as I had been led to believe that even if the tree made beans, it takes a delicate process to get them to taste right. I mean, it's not like I knew what I was doing in the least, nor does my area necessarily offer optimal growing conditions for coffee. I don't think I even fertilized the tree once during the whole year, and I'm pretty sure it was getting too much sun, and not enough water. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it--instead go out with your new found confidence and buy some coffee arabica at the US Riverside Plant sale--about 12 little seedlings for $5.00, that in three years, might just yield a bean or two or three. (Each tree can produce anywhere from 1-12 pounds of coffee per year, depending on soil, climate, and other environmental factors.) Coffee arabica grows best in conditions where there are no extremes of hot or cold, in fertile, well-watered but well-drained soil, with about two hours a day of direct sunlight. Dappled sun is great. In the wild, coffee can grow to a height of 14-20 feet, but when cultivated it is usually kept pruned to facilitate harvesting the beans.

I have moved my original tree to a shadier location and have been remembering to water it more often. Since harvesting the first round of beans on the first tree, I was shocked to discover that a second round hit within a remarkably short time after the initial harvest, and I am happy to report that even though the beans are still green, this round is now in full swing. Yet another reminder that when you are growing things in Southern CA, there are no rules that aren't broken at one time or another, and the impossible may not be quite as out there as it seems.

Return to Vegetable & Flower Index or Unusual Plants