How to Grow and Care For a Coffee Plant
Even if not harvesting beans, this attractive houseplant is easy to grow indoors
The coffee plant is an attractive little specimen with glossy green leaves and a compact growth habit. It makes a surprisingly good potted indoor plant. Native to Ethiopia, the coffee plant (Coffea arabica) will flower in the spring with small white flowers and then bear half-inch berries that gradually darken from green to blackish pods. Each of these fruits contains two seeds, which eventually become the coffee beans you use to brew coffee.
In their native habitat, coffee plants grow into medium-sized trees. But growers regularly prune the plants to be a more manageable size, especially when the plants are grown indoors. (Note that you can’t grow coffee plants from the beans you buy in a store; those have been treated and roasted and will not sprout.) Even though coffee plants are vigorous growers, it will typically take a few years before your plant produces flowers and subsequent fruits.
Other than the seeds, it’s important to know that all plant parts are toxic to both humans and animals.
Coffee Plant Care
The best environment in which to grow coffee plants is to mimic its natural conditions found on a tropical, mid-elevation mountainside: plenty of water with good drainage, high humidity, relatively cool temperatures, and rich, slightly acidic soil.
You can grow coffee plants outdoors if the conditions are similar to their natural environment. Indoors, coffee plants do best placed near a window but not in direct sunlight. Make sure to keep the plant away from drafts, such as those produced from air conditioning. Be prepared to water at least weekly to keep the soil moist.
Light
Coffee plants prefer dappled sunlight or full sunlight in weaker latitudes. They are actually understory plants (existing under the forest canopy) and do not thrive in direct, harsh sunlight. Coffee plants that are exposed to too much direct sunlight will develop leaf browning.
Soil
Plant coffee plants in a rich, peat-based potting soil with excellent drainage. Coffee plants prefer acidic soil, so if your plant is not thriving add organic matter such as sphagnum peat moss to lower soil pH. The ideal pH range is closer to 6 to 6.5.
Water
These plants are water lovers and require both regular and ample watering. The soil should stay evenly moist but not waterlogged. Never allow the soil to dry out completely.4
Temperature and Humidity
The optimal average temperature range for coffee plants is a daytime temperature between 70 to 80 degrees and a nighttime temperature between 65 to 70 degrees. Higher (hotter) temperatures can accelerate growth, but higher temperatures are not ideal for growing plants for their beans. The fruits need to ripen at a slow, steady pace.
In addition, because these plants naturally grow on the sides of tropical mountains, they thrive in highly humid conditions which usually receive plenty of rain and fog. A humidity level of 50 percent or higher should suffice. If the air is too dry, the leaf edges might start to brown. Mist the plant daily to raise the humidity level.
Fertilizer
Feed with a weak liquid fertilizer throughout the growing season every couple of weeks. Cut the fertilizer back to once a month or so in the winter.
More at link:
https://www.thespruce.com/grow-coffee-plants-1902614
My sister bought a bag of soil acidifier to add to the containers she planted her blueberries in. I think she said it's formulated specifically for blueberries and hydrangeas (sp?). Would that stuff be OK to mix in with the coffee plant's potting soil?
The Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries (Yaupon)
"Cassina, or black drink, the caffeinated beverage of choice for indigenous North Americans, was brewed from a species of holly native to coastal areas from the Tidewater region of Virginia to the Gulf Coast of Texas. It was a valuable pre-Columbian commodity and widely trade"
Upon export to Europe, cassina was marketed in England under the names “Carolina tea” and “South Sea tea,” and in France as “appalachina,” likely a reference to the Appalachee people. This confusing array of names emphasizes the practicality of the Linnaean classification system, which was still in its infancy when Europeans learned of cassina. William Aiton, an eminent British botanist and horticulturist, director of Kew Gardens, and “Gardener to His Majesty,” is credited with giving cassina the scientific name it bears to this day: Ilex vomitoria. Ilex is the genus commonly known as holly. Vomitoria roughly translates to “makes you vomit.”
Cassina does not make you vomit. Both modern scientific analysis and centuries of regular use by Southerners confirms this. But several early European accounts of cassina mention vomiting. Cassina seems to have been used in elaborate purification rituals where men sat in a circle, sung or chanted, and took turns chugging and then throwing up hot cassina. ...snip...
As the royal gardener, Aiton knew some of the richest and most powerful people in the British Empire. One of the most profitable and influential forces in that empire was the East India Company, which held a virtual monopoly on the tea trade. Its officers may well have worried that cassina represented a potential replacement for a lucrative British commodity, especially as it grew abundantly within regions then under the control of Spain and France.
In his entry on Ilex vomitoria, Aiton listed “South-Sea Tea” as a common name for cassina, suggesting he was aware of its use as a beverage amongst the English. Further, Aiton chose the name vomitoria even though Carl Linnaeus, the founder of the modern taxonomic system, referenced cassina under the name Ilex Cassine vera Floridanorum in 1753. (Ilex cassine is now the name for a close relative of cassina, the dahoon holly, which has significantly less caffeine.) ...snip...