15th Ave Coffee & Tea

Mother’s Day is approaching this week and one gift idea for Mom is her very own coffee plant. Coffee plants are on sale year-round at 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea and one can be yours for $20. These small plants, perfect for desks and table decorations, will be expected to yield their own coffee beans in just one to two years.

Read on to learn more about the care and keeping of your own household coffee plant.

Coffea Arabica, the name of the species cultivated to produce all of the Starbucks coffees sold in our cafe (not to be confused with the lesser cultivated variety, Coffea Robusta, which only accounts for about 25% of coffee sold in the coffee industry) is a plant native to tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Cultivated at altitudes of 600 to 1,800 meters above sea level, Arabica coffee grows under somewhat particular growing conditions. I remember learning, at one of the coffee farms I visited on the Big Island of Hawaii, that in the 30-mile expanse of land at the base of the Mauna Loa volcano known as the “Kona Coffee Belt”, coffee plants lead a very regimented day-to-day life. “It’s sunny every day,” one coffee farmer said, “and every day at 4 o’clock, the clouds roll in, we cover our drying patios with roofs and it rains. Every day.” Though not every coffee growing region is characterized by such specific conditions, it’s important that the habitat in which coffee is cultivated is not too wet, nor too dry, that the coffee is subject to direct sunlight for a part of every day and that the weather never reaches extreme hot or cold temperatures.

While, typically, coffee thrives within 25 degrees north and south of the equator, given the right amount of care, you can raise a coffee plant right here in the Pacific Northwest (indoors, of course). Coffee plants are generally easy and low-maintenance to own but knowing a few things about the species can help assure a healthy plant that one day will blossom and produce coffee beans.

Water
For best results I recommend watering no more than twice a week. Aim to keep the soil barely moist in the fall and winter and thoroughly moist in the spring and summer. Be sure that the plant is kept in a pot with a hole on the bottom for drainage.

Humidity
One thing that has a large influence on the growth of a coffee plant is the atmospheric humidity present in growing regions. In regions where Arabica coffee flourishes, the humidity remains consistently around 60% (and never higher than 85%). Though coffee will grow just fine in a household environment, the presence of humidity is helpful to aid water retention. Additionally, if the humidity is consistently too low you may begin to notice browning at the tips of the leaves. I recommend misting your coffee plant, with a spray bottle, once or twice a day. Another option is to place your plant on a tray of pebbles that’s about an inch deep and twice the diameter of the pot in width. Fill the tray with water to no higher than the tops of the pebbles. The pebbles will absorb the water and release humidity into the air as the water evaporates out of the pebbles. Do be sure that the plant or its pot does not come into direct contact with the water causing it to absorb the water. This practice is only a way to generate humidity, not to water the plant.

Long-term
An indoor coffee plant will prosper in temperatures above 65 degrees. Give the plant a locale perhaps near a window with medium light and try to avoid exposing the plant to direct sunlight for more than one-hour per day. Artificial indoor plant lighting can provide a good environment for a coffee plant as well. Finally, the coffee plant will outgrow its pot once a year and failing to re-pot the plant may inhibit its growth. Aim to re-pot the plant in the next size larger pot (with a hole in the bottom) once yearly in the spring to provide for optimal growth.

A coffee plant is a rewarding and aesthetically attractive plant to own that, after a year or two of proper care and attention, will blossom with sweet, fragrant flowers followed by coffee cherries fit to be harvested, processed, roasted and consumed (though it may take awhile for your coffee plant’s yield to fill your favorite coffee mug). I’ve owned my own coffee plant for nearly nine-months and by following the proper care protocol, enjoy an attractive desk-top decoration that I can watch grow and develop. You can too!

Have a great Mother’s Day week,

-Amanda