I’m guessing that my love of coffee came from my father.
He definitely liked his cuppa and always thought of ways to go to a coffee shop and indulge. He wasn’t a fan of frieze dried bottled coffee from a jar. And definitely not from a tin, but if no coffee shop was available he would suffer in silence. (Well… the Dutch kind of silence lol)
Coffee beans close to harvest.
There are many images of coffee beans throughout the internet and I have looked at quite a few of them. At the same time thinking it would be fabulous darling to have my own coffee trees growing in the back yard.
One day I was thinking about how I could get something going about How to grow Coffee Beans, but came up with the same answer each time I thought about it. Where do I get the time?
I was talking about this with the girls at work when someone said what about Remote Male. He’s always up for a challenge.
So I approached him and the following work so far is the trials and tribulations and coffee learning he has experienced over the last couple of months.
The image on the right is my dream. He hasn’t got close yet. But he tells me he is getting a good education.
Where do I get coffee seeds?
I sent out an SOS to a number of friends and received a great tip. Believe it or not, the best suggestion to try was a company called Fair Dinkum Seeds.
There is also a plethora of informations and growing tips. After spending quite some time on the site, I can happily recommend this site and tell you a bit about my experience so far.
Ordering the coffee seeds.
With the decision made to grow my own coffee, I jumped on the Fair Dinkum site to place an order. The coffee seeds weren’t immediately available. I had to add my name to the waiting list.
About two months later, around the 25th of August 24 I received an email to say that the seeds were available and a warning that they don’t last long. I purchased the seeds straight away. They arrived around the end of the month and looked that good I decided to buy some more, but they were sold out.
No idea how to grow coffee seeds.
I like to drink coffee but had no idea how to germinate or grow the seeds. So I went back onto the Fair Dinkum site and got the skinny on how to grow seeds. I Iiked the way he talked about growing seeds and the soils he made. I purchased a bag of good seed raising mix and a bag of sand.
The sand and seed raising mix was mixed in a two sand, three seed raising ratio. Two scoops of sand and three scoops of seed raising mix.
Two trenches about 10cm deep were dug into a composted raised bed and the seed growing mixture placed in it. The coffee seeds were placed into the sand, soil growing mix about 30mm deep and 90mm apart. My aim was to sprout them in the bed and then transplant them when they had gained strength and would survive.
You’ll see how good that idea turned out to be a few paragraphs down.
First seed standing tall.
Seeds displaying their leaves after shedding seed.
Coffee Seeds Planted 30 August 2024
The seeds were planted the day they arrived. And they looked as good as the ones displayed on the Fair Dinkum site.
Now all I had to do was water them daily and wait for them to sprout. Each evening I would go out and water them thoroughly with the hose on the mist setting.
As with the elephant garlic, nothing happened for over a month. I was getting a bit antsy and wondering what I had done wrong. Why aren’t these seeds sprouting. It was unseasonal weather in South East QLD and quite warm. I was thinking that I hadn’t watered enough and that the seeds had been subjected to too much heat.
First sprouts appear.
At about six weeks, the first sprouts started to appear. The first glimpse that something was happening was when green bent over something was trying to get up out of the ground. After a few more days finally the seed had risen above the ground and straightened itself.
Wearing the seed like a helmet, the seeds that sprouted started to unfold their leaves and ditch the seed. Things were looking good and felt like I was getting the hang of this growing coffee seeds.
It is now near the end of November 24 and my premonition regarding the heat would affect the seeds sown in the trench, came to pass. About 16 seeds poked their helmet through and tried to grow. It was too hot for them and they nearly all, apart from five stragglers succumbed to the heat. The stem of the plants went black and the helmet fell off before opening and revealing the leaves.
Saving the Coffee Seeds From the Heat
I still had some seedlings in seedpods that were starting to grow and I knew I had to get them into a better, cooler location. Fortunately there is some Kale growing in the raised bed that I planted the coffee seeds. The kale was getting past its use by date and the moths had been sowing their eggs into their leaves. They were being decimated by the little caterpillars. But they provided a lot of shade.
I moved the seedpods underneath the kale and they responded remarkably.
Still a ways to go before drinks.
We are really still at the early stage of learning how to grow coffee seeds. And like the garlic, Nita will keep you updated from time to time.
If I had to give some advice it will be, don’t be scared. Give it a go. I have two black thumbs and these things still grow.
Nita from atcProducts
Coffee seedlings shaded by kale.
Coffee seedlings a week later
PS. The image below is the same as the background image at the top. It is a bit easier to see the helmets (seeds) still on the seedlings and the ones fallen on the ground. The image came from a Landline video on the ABC. It is an interesting read and good video. Clicking on the image or the red text will take you to the Landline page.
Coffee beans with a distinct taste of place an opportunity for Australian growers
