Or a coffee plant photo taken after one too many coffees?
I don't actually drink coffee. I did when I was younger and lived in Europe, I thought myself very chic, and it wasn't until a long time later that I realised coffee made me feel sick in the stomach. So I stopped drinking it and now I am strictly a tea lass. And I love a good cup of tea.
But there weren't selling tea at that enormous hardware store we all know, they were selling coffee plants. I needed the letter C for my gardening project, and so a coffee plant is exactly what I bought.
I've no idea how it will do here. I am relatively sure though that I saw someone else in Brisbane growing them on BLF, so hopefully coffee beans will eventuate for me too. I do still love the smell of a good coffee, and I do sometimes wish I still drank it, but in the interests of a happy tummy, I content myself with olfactory pleasures only.
I am hoping to make chocolate covered beans from this bush. I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to bring myself to eat them.
From what little I know about growing coffee, they are an understorey plant, and so appreciate a bit of shelter. I also remember seeing banana plants all around coffee plantations in Brazil, and I think they use the bananas to act as a windbreak.
So I thought I'd pop this coffee plant in next to some banana trees, and try to recreate a little bit of South America for it.
Do you think it worked?
16 comments:
I too love the smell of coffee but there is nothing better than a good cup of tea. I love being the first one up in the morning and having that first hot cuppa all by myself.
I agree - the smell of coffee and sharing company while having coffee is wonderful but it's no good for my tummy either! Chocolate covered beans however....that's a different story. Will be interesting to see how it goes...
Me too - love the smell of coffee but don't drink it. In fact I've only ever had one cup of coffee in my life and I didn't like it. But I do love a cup of tea. Have you done 'T' yet?
I like a latte when out but am a dedicated tea drinker at other times. I couldn't work out why coffee after 3 pm stops me from sleeping but several cups of tea don't. They have exactly the same amount of caffeine when measured gram for gram. However, only a little tea is used in comparison with coffee and therefore cup for cup coffee has much more caffeine.
Wow, does anyone drink coffee?
VG I haven't done "T" yet, no... do you think I could find a tea bush? I'd have no idea what to do with it???
Erin I had a chocolate covered coffee bean at a fancy cafe the other day, yum o. Although I've no idea how on earth they cover the bean with chocolate... that part could be a problem.
I drink coffee! :-) Use an espresso machine and a burr grinder for the beans. A bit serious about it you could say although we both enjoy a cuppa now and then, too.
C could also be for Camellia sinensis the tea plant if you can find one. In Sri Lanka when it was known as Ceylon, they used to have coffee plantations. A bug got all the plants to they planted tea instead. So where you can grow coffee, you can grow tea. Both are frost-sensitive and in the sub-tropics some shade will be a good idea. Coffee is a rainforest plant, don't know about tea.
The coffee beans need roasting to make them palatable so you would have to do all the fiddly preparation before you can dip them in chocolate.
I drink a lot of coffee and love the smell! I can't drink a lot of regular black tea due to the acid. It gives me a tummy ache. I do drink green tea, however.
I would love to grow coffee! Alas, it doesn't grow here. I have considered trying a few bushes, started early from seed indoors and overwintered indoors in pots. Would they get mature enough the second year to go to seed and give me my own green coffee beans? I grow a lot of other things that need a long growing season. It's worth a try, I suppose. Where does one find a few green coffee beans that will germinate?
Your gardening projects sounds like fun!
I find it interesting that you are planting now and we have 2.5 feet of snow!
Ali; You do know that coffee beans have to be roasted before they are eaten, don't you? You can just harvest them and dip them straight away in your chocolate!
I'm a person who hedges their bets in this respect: I like to drink tea first thing in the morning, coffee mid-morning, and tea again in the afternoon. I absolutely love coffee in small doses. One of my sons-in-law comes from Panama and he and his family often bring us some fantastic coffee beans from their country and from nearby Honduras.
My son-in-law has a number of coffee bushes (still in pots) he wants to plant as a front hedge. Even if it doesn't produce a lot of beans it is a nice plant.
Mark you could dip anything in chocolate and it would taste fine :p
When I was younger and way more fun, I lived in Brazil... and while I was there we stayed at a coffee plantation for around a week. We rode around in the back of a truck (that was so much fun) and I got to see and helped a little bit with the picking (really shaking) and drying. I also remember a big dehulling machine, and lying in a huge room full of coffee, like a little kid in a ball pit. I don't actually rememeber the roasting part, perhaps it wasn't done at the farm... but I promise I will read up before I chocolate dip.
Hopefully it will give all of you a good giggle when I carry out this laborious process on the five or so coffee beans I am likely to get!
Missy I love the idea of a productive hedge, smart son in law. And a great talking point too.
Sheryl, it's wonderful, isn't it what people are getting up to on the other side of the world? I love all the snow photos, that's so far removed from what we have here.
And Elaine, I will be on the lookout for a tea bush. Have you any ideas of where on earth I might get one? I should ask on BLF hey.
I love coffee. My Mum bought me a coffee plant as an indoor plant and I had it for 18 months until I went on holidays and either I overwatered it before leaving or my plant sitter did...it died without ever producing beans! But it made a beautiful plant while it lasted...
So exotic! I'm a tea drinker too. I gave up on coffee when it started to give me a 3 day migraine and tremors after just one cup. I truly think I'm allergic to it. I used to like the aroma, but being in a room where someone is brewing strong coffee will also bring on a headache.
Having said that, I think your plant is beautiful - a lovely strong architectural plant.
Thanks Linda :) I think your snow is exotic! That's interesting that the smell gives you a headache, I get headaches from smells too, mostly from perfume though, can't stand the stuff.
Byddi I will probably kill mine too, I am not the most fabulous gardener in the world!
Can't start a morning without coffee...
I also have a coffee plant-it grows slow and I'm not sure if it will produce any beans, but it's a beautiful plant!
Yes, I am not sure about it producing any coffee either! Just a few beans to roast up would be fun, I'm going to do my best :)
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