Growing coffee

[Elvis3577]

Hi Jayman
I think it's worth it. ( we shouldn't be on this page if we thought it wasn't ... ) You haven't got much to lose. Just try. They are quite easy to grow, and pretty resilient.I've been growing them for only a few years now in both the front and back yard, and I'm not quite there yet as far as roasting is concerned. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.It's a hobby and it takes time, but it's interesting and fun. And I've learned heaps ! You can buy a semi mature plant for around 30-40 bucks or buy a packet with green beans for 3. And away you go.Stick to the fundamentals and you can't go wrong really.And all the information you need is available on the net....Doesn't get much easier than that !

Good luck with it !

[Divey]

I'm becoming a little confused with my very first growth of berries/cherries (what should they be called?). I live on the northern side of Sydney and seems as though these berries are taking their time at growing etc.
Can someone tell me at what time of the year you would expect them to be ripe??

[GrahamK]

Doesn't get much easier than that !

With one proviso I think - the growing is the easier part - Pulping & Hulling another story without mechanical help ;-)

See some of the earlier posts

GrahamK

[Divey]

I'm becoming a little confused with my very first growth of berries/cherries (what should they be called?). I live on the northern side of Sydney and seems as though these berries are taking their time at growing etc.
Can someone tell me at what time of the year you would expect them to be ripe??

Well, I can answer my own question now. Looks like August/September is the answer. Although the first crop will be extremely poor, I cant wait for next year.

[Divey]

Well, I did say the first crop would be extremely poor. These beans are on a bread and butter plate.




A Massive 27 grams.

[GrahamK]

My 1st tree harvest (2011) I got 122g, 2012 it gave me over 1Kg, and this year reckon at least double that - so good things to come - but also lots of manual pulping & hulling :-(

GrahamK

[Divey]

My little trees are in big pots and at the time of the year (February on) when it was hot and the trees needed a fair bit of TLC, I was out of action with a total knee replacement.

I will be tending to the little babies like children this summer.

[Elvis3577]

Hi everyone !

I picked my very first bean about a fortnight ago. They have been on the branches easily 4 or 5 months I think, and all of a sudden they started to turn maroon-ish purple-ish within about 2 to 3 weeks. And guess what.... the very first one was a floater !
I think the second bean is about ready now. This way I'll never get to 27 grams....

On a different note. What surprises me still a bit is that coffee plants don't go dormant during the winter like a lot of other plants. They just keep growing bit by bit !

[Elvis3577]

Low and behold, the second one is a floater as well !
Is this just a coincidence , or am I doing something wrong here, like picking them too early ?
What I've done so far is : pick the bean , squeeze the green bean out and put in a plastic tub with water straight away.
Anyway , I'll leave the other ones on for quite a bit longer , and see if that makes any difference.
Mmmm.... a bit puzzled right now....

[GrahamK]

Sounds like you are doing it all correct. I normally get a quite few floaters out of a batch every time, so hopefully just unlucky your first 2 were both floaters. It should improve over the next few years. Don't give up quite yet. :-)

GrahamK

[Elvis3577]

No , don't worry.
It feels like I've only just started, apart from the growing of course....I'll just have to be patient...
I had a look at Tony's pic at the top , with the meat grinder. And my two beans looked a bit darker than most of his , so I guess you're right , I was just a bit unlucky.
Thanks for giving me some reassurance Graham.
There's so many things that can go wrong, so many variables.
It feels a bit the same as when I was doing my very first home brew ;-)

[Elvis3577]

Third time lucky !
Half a bean that didn't float.

[Elvis3577]

I've got a question.
I've picked some more beans in the mean time.
Some half a dozen that I picked and left in the sun for another day and then put in water some 20 hours after picking.
The thing is after checking at an 18 and 24 hour interval , and rubbing the beans between my hands, they are still 'slimey' /slippery.
So I put them back in the water again up to 48 hours ( after picking ) Again , still 'slimey', not gritty ?
What should I do ?
PS They are out of the water by now by the way.
PS2 I noticed yesterday ( before the rain ) I've got this season's very first flower open, as opposed to late summer (this year) last time...

Thanks , Elvis

[GrahamK]

Hi Elvis,

The following are "my opinions" as apposed to "Expert Opinions":

When I have used a washed process, I always pulp and place in water immediately. It takes a day or so to start "fermenting", and after 2-3 days I remove them and wash them, and they lose the slimy-ness.

I believe it starts fermenting due to the sugars and maybe some yeast & stuff in the slimy layer. Possibly by waiting/drying before washing them you lost some momentum in that process?

I have used a "honey" style process this year, Pulped the beans, dumped them very quickly in water to weed out the floaters then laid them out to dry in sun with the slimy layer basically intact. Bit of a pain because they are very sticky, especially after overnights, and tend to attracts ants to the sugary surface. Cannot comment on results because its my first year using this process, previously I always used a washed process. Maybe you could just dry them as they are, which is probably a semi-washed/honey style and just keep an eye on then so they do not get mouldy etc.

Previous years I also hulled them early on, but recently did some roasting education, which had a section on growing and processing, which indicated they should remain in their hulls to "rest & recover" for a fair while before hulling. I also spent a morning observing roasting with Kees from Mt Tambourine a few months ago, and he seems to only hull his beans just before he needs to roast them.

PS My trees are also in full bloom, and I still have not completely finished picking yet

Not sure if that helps?

GrahamK

[tommoz]

I don't grow any coffee trees but I do have a lemon guava (also known as yellow cherry guava) which is from South America and gives sweet sherbet-filled fruit.

I have read that the pits in the fruit can be used in the same way a coffee bean is used in brewing coffee.

My young tree is ripening its first ever fruits at the moment, should be ripe in December.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_Guava