Yes, You Can Totally Grow Your Own Coffee Beans at Home — Here’s How
If you’ve ever been successful at keeping (read: not killing) a house plant, you already know that nurturing a living thing can be incredibly rewarding and therapeutic. Plus, they’re just a bit lower maintenance than having a pet. And if you’re ready to take things to the next level with your house plant collection, here’s a fun idea: Why not grow a beautiful house plant that will reward you with one of life’s other greatest pleasures: coffee!
Secretly nestled deep within Amazon’s Patio Lawn & Garden section is this small four-inch Arabica coffee plant that will grow large enough to yield fruit for roasting and brewing actual coffee. It comes vetted with a solid 4.4-star rating, tons of positive reviews and costs a little under $12 — or the price of two fancy lattes from your favorite coffee shop.
But keep in mind that growing coffee beans at home isn’t as instant as brewing coffee. With proper care and a bit of patience, it can take anywhere between three to four years for your plant to produce flowers that will eventually bloom into coffee berries. The good news is that, in the meantime, you’ll be able to enjoy watching your plant evolve from having healthy green leaves to blooming flowers that resemble jasmine to bursting with bright red berries that contain the coffee beans! Fun fact: The coffee bean is actually the seed of the berry, and when you finally have enough fruit to harvest from your coffee plant, they’ll need to be dried then hulled to reveal the bean. At that point, you can roast them to your taste buds’ preference!
As for growing your coffee plant indoors, all you need is a warm, humid and shady corner, good drainage and a regular watering schedule for your plant to stay happy and reach its optimum height of six feet. Additionally, the coffee plant’s seller, 9GreenBox, packs in several seedlings into the little pot, giving you (and your green thumb!) a higher success rate.
While Arabica is one of the most popular coffee varieties, you can also pick up this Kona Coffee Hawaiian starter plant that will yield delicious Kona coffee beans. Or if you’re feeling rather ambitious, give growing Colombian coffee beans a shot with these Colombian coffee seeds.
Now that you have a new long-term hobby sorted, it’s time to make room on your window sill for your new coffee plant. And if you’re really enthusiastic, Amazon also sells a chocolate plant, aka Theobroma Cacao, so you’ll have the key ingredient ready for your chocolate cake just in time to pair with your first cup of coffee made from your very own coffee plant!
Buy: 9GreenBox Arabica Coffee Plant, $12