How to Grow and Care for Coffee Plant

The coffee plant, with its glossy green leaves and compact growth habit, makes a surprisingly good potted indoor plant. In ideal growing conditions, its fragrant white flowers in the spring are followed by half-inch fruits called cherries that gradually darken from green to blackish pods. Each cherry contains two acidic-tasting coffee beans.

In their native habitat, coffee plants grow into medium-sized trees, adding inches in just a few months and reaching two feet within their first year. Indoors, the plants are pruned to a more manageable size.

Aside from the beans, this plant is toxic to people and pets.

Can You Grow a Coffee Plant at Home?

Yes, you can grow a coffee plant at home. It's perfectly legal to grow your own coffee plant with the intention to consume the coffee yourself. However, a coffee plant grown as a houseplant is unlikely to grow enough beans to make even a cup of coffee.

Coffee Plant Care

Whether you grow coffee plants in your yard or indoors, the best environment is one that mimics the plant’s natural conditions on a tropical, mid-elevation mountainside. Here are the main care requirements for growing a coffee plant as a houseplant:

• Place it in a location near a window, but not in direct sunlight which can burn the leaves.
• Maintain a room temperature between 65°F to 80°F.
• Use rich, peat-based, slightly acidic potting soil amended with organic matter.
• Water the plant as often as needed to keep the soil evenly moist.
• In spring and summer, fertilize with a diluted liquid fertilizer.
• Prune the plant in the spring to encourage dense, bushy growth.

Light

Coffee plants prefer bright, indirect light. Too much light will cause leaf browning.

Soil

Plant coffee plants in rich, peat-based potting soil with excellent drainage. Coffee plants prefer acidic soil. If your plant is not thriving, add organic matter to the soil to lower the pH.

Water

Coffee plants do best if they are watered deeply to moisten the soil throughout, then watered again when the soil has dried out about halfway. The soil should stay evenly moist but not waterlogged. Never allow the soil to dry out completely.

Temperature and Humidity

The ideal temperature for coffee plants is between 70°F and 80°F during the day and 65°F to 70°F at night. Warmer temperatures can be good for leaf growth but won't help you grow beans.

Coffee plants prefer high humidity, ideally 50% or greater, though it should do okay in normal household humidity levels (upwards of 30%). If the air is really dry, the leaf edges can brown. Use a humidifier if you want to increase humidity around the plant.

Fertilizer

In the spring and summer, during the growing season, feed coffee plant with a liquid fertilizer, diluted to half strength, every couple of weeks. Cut the fertilizer back to once a month in the winter.

Know Before You Grow

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a coffee plant grown as a houseplant will produce enough beans to brew homegrown coffee. It takes 2,000 coffee cherries, or 4,000 beans, to make a pound of roasted coffee.

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Types of Coffee Plant

In addition to C. arabica, the most popular coffee for growing coffee beans, there are other noteworthy coffee varieties:

• C. arabica 'Nana': This is a dwarf variety that only grows 12 inches tall, making it ideal to grow indoors.
• C. canephora: Commonly known as robusta coffee, this species comes from sub-Saharan Africa. Its plants are robust; however, the coffee beans tend to have a stronger, harsher taste than arabica beans.
• C. liberica: A variety native to central and western Africa, it was first discovered in Liberia. It produces large fruits with a higher caffeine content than arabica beans but lower than robusta beans.
• C. charrieriana: This plant produces a caffeine-free variety of coffee beans.
• C. magnistipula: Native to the Lower Guinean forests of tropical West Africa, this variety grows in a shrub-like shape.

Is This the Right Plant for You?

A coffee plant is a good choice for you if:

• You want a leafy green plant that stays relatively compact in size.
• You're okay with moderate watering needs.
• You have bright, indirect light.
• You want a houseplant that flowers once a year.

Pruning

Coffee plants grown as houseplants should be pruned every spring to maintain their shape. Using sterilized, sharp pruning shears, remove any old, dead, and bare branches as well as leaves growing directly from the lower part of the trunk.

To encourage dense, bushy growth, cut the stems at a 45º angle, about 1/4 inch above a leaf joint (where the leaf attaches to the stem).

Pruning Tip

Looking for the best pruners for your coffee plant? We tested top-rated pruners in our Lab to make sure your plant stays happy and healthy.

Propagating Coffee Plants

The fastest method to propagate a coffee plant is from stem cuttings. The best time to take a cutting is in the early summer.

1. Cut a piece of stem. Use sterile pruners to cut an 8- to 10-inch stem.
2. Remove lower leaves. Remove all but a pair of upper leaves.
3. Dip in rooting hormone. Dip the cut end in rooting hormone.
4. Plant the cutting. Fill a 4-inch pot with damp potting mix and insert the cutting deeply into the soil.
5. Cover with bag and keep humid and moist. Cover the cutting with a clear plastic dome or plastic bag. Place it in a warm location but out of direct sunlight, and keep the soil evenly moist.
6. Move to permanent location. Once roots have formed, move the young plant into bright, indirect light and remove the dome or bag.

How to Grow Coffee Plant From Seed

While you can't germinate the coffee beans you buy in a store, you can sprout the ones that grow on your coffee plant, provided it's not a cultivar. Called "cherries," the fruit should be picked when they're a bright crimson color. Coffee seeds are also available from seed companies.

1. Gather seeds. The cherries are ready when you can rub away their flesh. Wash off any residue to release the seeds inside.
2. Dry seeds. Dry the seeds thoroughly by letting them cure on a plate lined with paper towel for a few weeks.
3. Soak seeds. Soak the beans in water for 24 hours, and toss any that float.
4. Prepare containers. Fill 4-inch pots with damp, but well-draining potting mix.
5. Plant seeds. Plant the seeds 1/4 inch deep.
6. Maintain the plant. Keep the pot in a warm location but away from direct sunlight, and keep the soil evenly moist. It takes six to eight weeks for the seeds to germinate.
7. Upgrade containers as they grow. As they grow, transplant the seedlings into larger pots with a well-draining, slightly acidic potting mix and keep them well-watered.

Potting and Repotting Coffee Plant

Repot your plant whenever the roots start to outgrow the pot, choosing a pot that is one to two inches larger in diameter and drainage holes. Use fresh potting soil each time. The best time for repotting is in the late winter before the new growth starts.

Common Pests and Plant Diseases

Coffee plants grown indoors will sometimes suffer from infestations of mealybugs, aphids, and mites. Signs of infestation include tiny webs, clumps of white powdery residue, or visible insects on the plant. Treat infestations as soon as possible with organic pesticides such as insecticidal soap or neem oil to prevent them from spreading to the rest of your collection.

Fungal diseases like leaf spot can give your coffee plant brown spots on its leaves. To remedy this, remove affected leaves and stems and trim away inner branches so there is better air circulation for your plant.

Coffee Plant Flowers

Even though coffee plants are vigorous growers, it will typically take three to five years before your plant produces flowers and fruits indoors.

Bloom Months

When grown as houseplants, coffee plants typically bloom in April and May.

How Long Does The Coffee Plant Bloom?

In nature, the coffee plant bloom period last two to three months. However, as houseplants the coffee plant will only bloom for about one month, at most.

What Do Coffee Plant Flowers Look and Smell Like?

Coffee plant flowers are delicate and white, growing in sets of four. They form clusters along the leaf stems. The flowers' size depends on the species.

Coffee plant flowers smell like jasmine (even though your cup of coffee doesn't).

How to Get a Coffee Plant to Bloom

To get coffee plant to bloom, put it in bright, indirect light and make sure the temperature is between 68°F to 75°F. Only a mature coffee plant will bloom.

If your coffee plant isn't blooming, try adding a grow light.

Caring for Coffee Plant After It Blooms

No special care is required after the coffee plant's bloom period. The spent flowers naturally drop to the ground.

Common Problems With Coffee Plant

Browning Leaves

Leaves that turn brown and fall off usually do so from leaf scorch. Fixing it is merely a matter of giving your coffee plant more indirect light. Browning leaves can also be caused by too much water or root rot, which is often the result of roots sitting in waterlogged soil.

From: thespruce