Check out my new video on how to germinate coffee beans:
Coffee beans take a month or more to germinate. These took over three months to sprout, but the tray dried out at least once, so it might have been faster in better conditions.
Here is how to germinate coffee beans in two steps.
And here – pin this nice graphic to Pinterest!
Now – let’s germinate coffee beans.
Step 1: Get Fresh Coffee Beans
I would guess the reason most coffee beans do not sprout is because they are too old. Or because they were roasted. Obviously, roasted coffee beans are dead. Make them into coffee instead.
Coffee, like many tropical trees and some plants, has seeds that lose viability quickly. Papaya is another example, as are avocados.
Finding fresh coffee beans is a task if you live outside the tropics. I bought multiple sets of coffee seeds online from seedman.com and had 0% germination. They were likely too old.
If you can’t get fresh and living coffee beans, you may have to do what I did a few years ago and buy your own coffee tree, then let that fruit.
You can find them on Amazon, which is pretty darned cool.
I got mine from a rare plant nursery booth at a plant show in North Florida. It bloomed and fruited within a year.
Smaller plants can take a couple of years. Pick the ripe coffee cherries, take out the fresh beans, then move on to step two.
Note: some places sell un-roasted coffee beans. Chances are these will be too dry to plant, but you could try anyhow.
Step 2: Plant the Beans and Wait
Coffee beans take their time to come up.
It’s a good idea to provide bottom heat if your temperatures are below 70. I used an inexpensive heat mat like this one.
As the trees usually start producing fruit in October and through December, fresh beans will be hard to grow in a temperate region of the Northern Hemisphere without some extra heat.
I would plant a seed tray of beans in North Florida in the winter and put the tray onto a large baking tray, then put a little water in the tray and set the entire thing on a heat mat in my office until the seeds emerged. Then, if it’s still cold outside, you’ll need some grow lights to keep them from getting spindly and dying. If outdoor conditions have warmed up, move them on to a sunny porch; or, if not, put them next to a window where they can get sunlight.
Little coffee seedlings transplant easily and will grow quickly. They like plenty of fertility, so give them compost and a dilute fertilizer solution to make them happy. I was also able to germinate coffee beans in my greenhouse during the winter in little pots. They like warmth.
If your coffee trees are grown from early on in full sun, they’ll be able to handle full sun. Just be careful not to take them from a shady location to full sun right away or they’ll burn badly and may die.
How Long Do Coffee Trees Take to Bear?
From seed, you should start getting blooms and fruit in three years. As the coffee trees grow bigger you’ll get a lot more yield. The estimate on what it takes to feed an average annual coffee habit is 25 trees.
That will keep you running – however, just having a couple of trees will make you a decent amount of coffee for fun.
Finally, if you’d like to learn more on growing coffee and other caffeine sources, check out my no-nonsense booklet The Survival Gardener’s Guide to Growing Your Own Caffeine.