If you are a lover of Java, then it may be an interesting concept to consider growing your own coffee at home! Coffee does grow on trees, and it is most often grown along the equator because of the tropical climate and humid conditions that cause the plant to thrive. However, if you do have some patience, then you may be able to achieve growing your own coffee plant at home, which would be an accomplishment!
It does take 4 to 5 years for a coffee tree to mature completely, so that is how long you will have to wait before you can harvest your first bag of coffee beans. However, it still is a beautiful plant, so it will offer you white flowers and full green leaves to complement your home garden. It is important to plant your coffee tree in commercial and fast draining soil. You do need to focus on keeping this soil moist, but not too damp. Coffee trees thrive best at night temperatures in filtered sunlight. The ideal temperatures would be 15°C at night to higher than 20°C in the daytime. It will take 6 to 8 weeks for beans to begin to appear on the tree, and leaves will start to grow after one month of care.
Water the seeds for your coffee tree on a daily basis, and keep a careful eye on how much water you use. If you use too little or too much water, you have the possibility of killing the coffee tree seed. The soil does need to be able to drain well, and it also needs to be kept continually moist. After several leaves have grown on the tree, plant it in your yard under the shade of a larger tree. This is the ideal growing condition for coffee trees, if you are familiar with shade grown coffee cultivation. Shade grown coffee trees do provide a better crop because the shade above allows them to grow slower and develop more complex flavors in the beans. This also allows them to keep humidity within their soil so that they can thrive more efficiently.
Your coffee tree will take three years to flower, and it can take up to five years before it matures to produce its first harvest. After you have harvested your fresh coffee beans, you do have the option of home roasting them on your stove or in a hot air popcorn popper. These are innovative and helpful home roasting methods, but make sure that you roast in a well ventilated area because burned chaff can fly off of the roasting coffee beans and become a fire hazard.
Truthfully, if you have the patience to cultivate your own coffee harvest, there is truly nothing better than growing and home roasting your very own cup of Joe. This is a rewarding process that will allow you to have a hands-on experience in your Java production for a beautiful cup of coffee made especially by you!