How to Grow a Coffee Tree
A coffee plant makes an attractive, glossy-leaved houseplant, and while a home-grown harvest of beans is possible, it takes years of patient care to get there.
Getting Started
Coffee plants are usually started from a small nursery plant rather than seed, since coffee seeds lose viability quickly and can be slow and unreliable to germinate. Bright, indirect light — never direct hot sun, which can scorch the leaves — along with consistently moist, well-draining, slightly acidic soil suits a coffee plant best.
Coffee plants also appreciate higher humidity than typical household air, so a pebble tray or regular misting helps keep leaves from browning at the tips.
A coffee plant grown indoors can take three to five years to flower and produce its first cherries, and needs to reach a good mature size before it will fruit at all — grow this one for the foliage first.
Long-Term Care
Repotting every year or two into a slightly larger container, and feeding regularly during the growing season with a balanced houseplant fertilizer, supports steady growth toward eventual flowering and fruiting.
