Waking up, picking a handful of beans from the coffee bush on the coffee table, a quick roast, grind and brew, and a homegrown long black to enjoy in the morning sun.
It’s not as impossible as you might think, if you have the space and patience it takes to grow coffee beans.
Most of New Zealand is too cold to grow Coffea arabica successfully outdoors. The plant is not frost-hardy, but the Ethiopian native is ideal for growing indoors or, if you want enough beans for a cup a day, that is about 30 plants in a large glasshouse.
Plant now – it takes six years from seed to bean production, or three years from a bought bush. Even at full production the plant will produce only 400g of coffee a year.
Grow coffee plants in a container in good-quality, slightly acidic potting mix, and feed regularly. Keep out of direct sunlight. Flowering is water dependent, so let the soil dry out in winter but water regularly in summer.
Starry white flowers appear on the conical shrub in spring, followed by green “cherries” that turn red for Christmas and are ready to harvest.
This fruit can be eaten raw – it’s delicious, though may be a tad tart for some – but coffee aficionados will be more interested in getting them ready for drinking.
This is a matter of extracting the actual beans from the cherries, by soaking and skinning.
These green beans can be kept fresh for up to three years. Roasting can be as complicated or as simple as you might like.
Mary Lovell-Smith
