Gourmet coffees are almost exclusively high-quality mild varieties of arabica coffee. Now you can grow your own! Coffea arabica produces small, white, highly fragrant flowers. The sweet fragrance resembles the sweet smell of jasmine flowers. Flowers opening on sunny days result in the greatest numbers of berries. The flowers only last a few days, leaving behind only the thick, dark-green leaves. The berries then begin to appear. These are as dark green as the foliage, until they begin to ripen, at first to yellow and then light red and finally darkening to a glossy, deep red. At this point, they are called cherries, and are ready for picking. Each cherry will produce two coffee beans. And you’ll get hundreds of these cherries! Squeeze the cherries in order to get the seeds or coffee beans out. Arabica coffee plants are self-pollinating, but will give you a better harvest with an additional plant nearby. Water once weekly with warm water until it comes out of the bottom of your pot. Grows to 6′ tall when mature. Likes full to partial sun. Hardy to Zones 9-11 if outside, or 4-11 if on a covered patio.
Coffee (Coffea arabica)
Description
Gourmet coffees are almost exclusively high-quality mild varieties of arabica coffee. Now you can grow your own! Coffea arabica produces small, white, highly fragrant flowers. The sweet fragrance resembles the sweet smell of jasmine flowers. Flowers opening on sunny days result in the greatest numbers of berries. The flowers only last a few days, leaving behind only the thick, dark-green leaves. The berries then begin to appear. These are as dark green as the foliage, until they begin to ripen, at first to yellow and then light red and finally darkening to a glossy, deep red. At this point, they are called cherries, and are ready for picking. Each cherry will produce two coffee beans. And you’ll get hundreds of these cherries! Squeeze the cherries in order to get the seeds or coffee beans out. Arabica coffee plants are self-pollinating, but will give you a better harvest with an additional plant nearby. Water once weekly with warm water until it comes out of the bottom of your pot. Grows to 6′ tall when mature. Likes full to partial sun. Hardy to Zones 9-11 if outside, or 4-11 if on a covered patio.
