Growing coffee

[Zutroy]

Anywhere good in WA to get the plants or seeds from? WA is a bit funny about importing plants.

[MrJack]

I got mine from bunnings from memory, but you can also get them from Wandilla Nursery.

[Zutroy]

Ok. Will have to ask at Bunnings next time or drop in to nursery.

[DesigningByCoffee]

For anyone interested in growing coffee or seeing the production of it, some friends of ours have a small coffee plantation (50 trees or so) on their farm down in Gerringong.
We went there a few years ago with our then much-smaller kids and had a wander, picked and tasted some cherries, saw the processing and roasting setup, and had a nice brew and brought back a small bag of browns. Used to be a dairy farm, and the coffee was some of the most interesting I've ever tasted! In the cherry, through milk or as epresso, was quite a strong flavour of spearmint! Must be the low altitude, cool moist climate and right on the coast - plus the trees are in a section that used the hold the cows before milking - so very fertile soil!



Anyway, one of their daughters & her family have taken over the farm are now running some classes there in season - worth a lookie if you're down the south coast around December. Cheaper than going to visit the Tanzanian fair crack farm stays - as great as that would be!

Probably shouldn't post a link, so google Buena Vista Farm - then the "Bean to Barista" Course…

Cheers Matt

[elbeano]

A bit of advice Elvis,do not use fertiliser,use organic manure instead. Zendfelds trees pale in comparison to Mt Tamborine Coffee Plantations.And yes,prune them back hard every 3 years,and use the prunings chipped up as mulch around the base of the plants. Kees' Mt Tamborine growing techniques are being used successfully on plantations around the globe. The quality of product is unreal,just ask Mark Leo.

[GrahamK]

Anyone else finding their coffee cherries ripening a bit earlier this year than previous years?

I've had to start picking.

[herbie]

Hi Graham,
Me too,
I picked my first batch 9 days ago but only about 500 grams of cherries from each of the 2 trees and the beans are now on the drying rack.
I reckon the tree yield will be similar to last year so I am happy.
Will do another pick in about a weeks time.
Cheers ,
Herbie.

[MrJack]

All mine are still very green.

[Rolley]

I didn't notice the cherries ripening earlier this year really...

I'm coming into the second half of drying at the moment, most of the coffee we've picked, pulped and dried has the parchment layer already cracked off, and I've got the green beans drying further. We are using the excalibur this year for the first time to help speed up drying, makes a massive difference but it does take a long time. What I'm hoping though is that it leads to a better end result, as here the moisture in the air makes drying inconsistent and problematic (one year my whole batch went mouldy, was just too wet all the time!).

So anyway, moving forward I'm nearly ready to doing the first roast, and already planning the drinking ceremony. Does anyone make a big deal out of drinking home grown? I like to walk to a mountain top or forest/national park, usually filter the water from a creek, and cook it up in nature It's my 'thing' haha. This year I'm going to the Tableland, we'll be walking to some spring fed waterfalls, grinding and drinking coffee there with the water from the falls. Can't wait!

[Rolley]

Hi Graham,
Me too,
I picked my first batch 9 days ago but only about 500 grams of cherries from each of the 2 trees and the beans are now on the drying rack.
I reckon the tree yield will be similar to last year so I am happy.
Will do another pick in about a weeks time.
Cheers ,
Herbie.

Nice Herbie, that's great! One year I got a kilo from two trees! This year I'll be lucky to get 250g, we have a newborn so its nearly impossible to make time for picking pulping and cracking etc at the moment Do you have any super speed tips!? hahhah.. we use a plastic blade blender to knock off the parchment layer, then sort by hand, and repeat until the parchment is all off..

[herbie]

Hi Rolley,
I am about to wash and put my 4th pick onto drying racks today after 48 hours of fermenting in rain water. 4th pick gave me 2 litres of cherries off each tree.
1st pick 165 grams dried beans (parchment on)
2nd pick 375 " " " " "
3rd pick 180 " " " " "
To remove flesh from the cherries I use a kitchen hand mincer but only with the auger (nothing on the front) and put them through the mincer 3 times before sorting.
To remove the parchment from the dried beans I use a Breville Scraper Mixer with the "K" beater and the covers over the bowl held on with masking tape (lots of it).
I can do about 500 grams at a time and do 2 minutes at full speed then remove and blow out the husks by tipping slowly into a large plastic tub in a good breeze outside. I need to do this 3 times to get most of the husks off.
I know this is a lot of work but I have been unable to find a plastic blade blender and my home made wooden propeller in the electric drill is nowhere near as good.
Small commercial processing machines cost lots of money and weigh a lot also.
Keep persevering and enjoy.
Herbie.

[FGOB]

Arghhhhh

I just processed this years crop in the food processor with a plastic blade and it did a great job and then separated them by hand in a tub of water. No problem although it took a while probably about an hour with my hands in deep red murky liquid from the cherries. Now I find that its after midnight am I am wide away and have heart burn ( which I get if I drink coffee after about 11 in the morning. I swear that I have absorbed the caffeine through my hands.

[MrJack]

A question - how do you decide when they are ripe? Is it based on colour only?

Also, has anyone germinated any of the coffee they have grown? Have a whopping 6 cherries and would like to have a crack at propagation.

[GrahamK]

I pick based generally on colour, and sometimes convenience when "ripe enough"

I have propagated, but it's been from fruit that has dropped from the tree and sprouted under the tree it dropped from.

This is quite common, and one of my first batch of trees was getting them from beneath trees in a plantation. However it will take a while before they will be ready to plant, and a few years for them to start producing.

The following shows a bunch I currently have in pots. I recently planted a number of them in the garden.

Mr Jack, if you are Brisbane based I think I have a few under one of my trees now you are welcome to "save" and take for potting.

GrahamK

[herbie]

Coffee tree dilemma

My two 5 feet tall Rojo dwarf 4 year old trees have just had their 13th pick for this year (not many cherries this pick) and there are still some green cherries left - but!! trees have been flowering for 3 weeks:-
So here is my dilemma ..I cannot prune the trees (never been pruned) so the foliage is very dense due to the overlapping of ripening and flowering.
Does anyone else this problem and can you solve it?
I have 3 potted seedlings taken from under the coffee trees (self sown) and they are 150 mm tall growing well.