Coffee Plant in Decorative Pot (Coffee arabica)

Planting

Coffee Plants prefer indirect but bright light. It should be placed near an east-facing window but not directly in it.

Watering

Keep the humidity up around the coffee plant by setting it on a water filled pebble tray in its early stages. A light misting with a water bottle in the evenings is great for a more mature plant. You may also drench it twice weekly with warm water until it comes out of the bottom of your pot and then drizzle over the top to simulate rain.

Its leaves can be an indicator if more water is needed. If the leaves curl upwards, seeming crispy or dry, you may want to water it more. Drooping leaves that appear too heavy (or that turn a shade of dark brown or black) indicate overwatering.

Fertilizing

Your Coffee Plant needs to be fertilized every two weeks during the growing season with a low concentration of fertilizer. The best results come from using a formula like 10-10-10 or an orchid fertilizer but try to use it sparingly. During early stages of growth add a bit more nitrogen.

Pruning

Your Coffee Plant will need some pruning on occasion; Arabica should be grown as a single stem. “Suckers” can start growing near the base of the plant and should be removed as soon as possible with a sterilized cutting tool. A basic rubbing alcohol is recommended for sterilizing your pruners or loppers.

As your coffee plant matures you’ll want to prune off any primary branches that droop and touch the ground by cutting them back to the secondary branch that they are closest to. Maintain well-spaced secondary branches on each primary branch and remove any of the dead, weak or damaged branches.

Harvesting

The cherries of your Coffee Plant take roughly nine months to fully ripen. The best way to harvest is by selective picking, where you select the best, ripest cherries for harvesting by hand. Coffee cherries don’t mature all at the same time so it’s necessary to pick them over the course of several days to remove your ripened cherries. the cherries are considered ripe when their skin fully turns red.

Squeeze the cherries in order to get the seeds or coffee beans out and place them into a bowl of water for 24 hours. This will make the remaining pulp stuck to the beans soft and easier to remove once the beans have fully dried.

Place your beans on some newspaper and let them dry slowly. You can place them in the sun but be cautious that you don’t bake them. Also, be sure to stir them around so they will dry evenly. They will reach a dry, stable condition in about a week.

Repeat the process as necessary until all of your cherries have been picked and dried. When your beans are done they will be hard, almost brittle and if they’re still soft at all, then they aren’t ready yet.