Grow Your Own Coffee

[Image Source]

One-third of Americans drink coffee every day. It is one of the most commonly-consumed beverages in the world, yet it has been surrounded by controversy ever since its discovery. 

According to one legend, coffee was discovered by a mystic named Abu al-Hasan al Shadhill, who ate the berries after noticing that birds became livelier after eating them. In another legend, an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi realized that his herd became hyper after eating coffee berries. He took some of the berries back to the monastery, and the abbot made a drink from them. The monks discovered that the new beverage helped to keep them awake during their evening prayers. Soon, coffee's fame spread, eventually reaching the Western world.

Coffee houses were founded in the 1500s after the plant began to be widely cultivated. Though coffee consumption was at first encouraged by the government, officials soon realized that coffee tended to stimulate creativity and radical thinking, a recipe for dissent and sedition. So coffee houses were banned, with limited success. 

Throughout the world, there have been many attempts to outlaw coffee.

One sultan named Murad IV (1612-1640) banned alcohol, tobacco, and coffee. He enforced it by roaming the streets of Constantinople and beheaded anyone whom he caught breaking the ban. 

In Rome, Pope Clement VIII's advisors wanted him to ban coffee because it was popular with Muslims. After tasting it, the pope came to a different conclusion, saying, "This devil's drink is so delicious... we should cheat the devil by baptizing it."

King Gustav III of Sweden tried to scientifically prove coffee's harmful effects by experimenting on twin convicts condemned to death. He commuted their sentences on the condition that one twin drank three pots of coffee a day for the rest of his life. The other twin had to drink the same amount of tea. Doctors monitored them, but, ironically, the doctors died before the twins did. 

Right now, I'm trying to germinate a dwarf variety of Coffea arabica, but it is not very easy. Coffee seeds can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months to sprout. 

If you want to try growing it, though, I have found an inexpensive way to do so. The Vermont Coffee Company will give you coffee seeds if you send them a self-addressed envelope with two stamps on it. And, if your plant eventually produces beans, the company will roast them for you. For more information, click here. 

Trade Winds Fruit has several varieties of coffee seeds under $4. 

Here are some basic germination instructions:

1. Soak the seeds overnight in a dish of lukewarm water. This softens the seed coat and speeds up the germination process.
2. Plant the seeds about 1/2"-1" deep in sterile potting soil. 
3. Water carefully, not letting the seeds dry out. 
4. Wait. 
5. Wait some more. Keep watering.
6. After a few months, you might get a coffee sprout.

Coffee does not tolerate cold weather, so keep it indoors unless you live in zone 10a or higher. Water twice per week. Use a fertilizer with a high proportion of nitrogen. After 2 or 3 years, fruit is possible. Some sources suggest shocking the plant into bloom by watering it a lot in the spring after reducing its water intake during the winter.