Coffee Plant

The coffee plant, with its glossy green leaves and compact growth habit, makes a surprisingly good potted indoor plant. In ideal growing conditions, its fragrant white flowers in the spring are followed by half-inch fruits called cherries that gradually darken from green to blackish pods. Each cherry contains two acidic-tasting coffee beans. 

In their native habitat, coffee plants grow into medium-sized trees, adding inches in just a few months and reaching two feet within their first year. Indoors, the plants are pruned to a more manageable size.

Coffee Plant Care

Whether you grow coffee plants in your yard or indoors, the best environment is one that mimics the plant’s natural conditions on a tropical, mid-elevation mountainside. Here are the main care requirements for growing a coffee plant as a houseplant:

• Place it in a location near a window, but not in direct sunlight which can burn the leaves.
• Maintain a room temperature between 65-80°F.
• Use rich, peat-based, slightly acidic potting soil amended with organic matter.
• Water the plant as often as needed to keep the soil evenly moist.
• In spring and summer, fertilize with a diluted liquid fertilizer.
• Prune the plant in the spring to encourage dense, bushy growth.

Light

Coffee plants prefer bright, indirect light. Too much light will cause leaf browning.

Soil

Plant coffee plants in rich, peat-based potting soil with excellent drainage. Coffee plants prefer acidic soil. If your plant is not thriving, add organic matter to the soil to lower the pH.

Water

Coffee plants do best if they are watered deeply to moisten the soil throughout, then watered again when the soil has dried out about halfway. The soil should stay evenly moist but not waterlogged. Never allow the soil to dry out completely.3

Temperature and Humidity

The ideal temperature for coffee plants is between 70°F and 80°F during the day and 65°F to 70°F at night. Warmer temperatures can be good for leaf growth but won't help you grow beans.

Coffee plants prefer high humidity, ideally 50% or greater, though it should do okay in normal household humidity levels (upwards of 30%). If the air is really dry, the leaf edges can brown. Use a humidifier if you want to increase humidity around the plant.

Fertilizer

In the spring and summer, during the growing season, feed coffee plant with a liquid fertilizer, diluted to half strength, every couple of weeks. Cut the fertilizer back to once a month in the winter.