Can You Grow Your Own Coffee in the United States?

Learn how to grow your own arabica coffee beans at home with this guide! We'll cover everything from choosing your space and soaking your seeds to harvesting your beans.

Can You Grow Your Own Coffee in the United States?

Good news for coffee lovers! It is possible to grow your own coffee beans in the United States. Homeowners can cultivate their own coffee plants, although it is not yet grown on a large scale. Coffee plants are commercially grown in Hawaii, Texas and California. Before you start growing your coffee plant, you need to dedicate a space to it.

Coffee plants can be grown indoors and outdoors, so you have options whether you live in a small apartment or have a spacious backyard. If you decide to grow it indoors, make sure you don't put it in an area of direct sunlight, as it prefers diffused sunlight. If you try to grow it outdoors, understand that these plants can become quite large, so you will need enough space to grow without interference. Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, has a thriving coffee industry. You may want a coffee plant, whether your house consists of a small apartment or a large backyard.

For those who want to grow their own arabica coffee plants at home, seeds, cherries and green coffee beans can be found locally. Almost everyone who visits Hawaii wants to buy Kona coffee, which is grown on the Big Island of Hawaii. There are also commercial gardens for growing coffee on Maui and Kauai, which are largely inhabited by tourists. After soaking the seeds in water for 24 hours, sow in wet sand or wet vermiculite with excess water. Apart from that, you can try planting the seeds in well-drained sacks of coffee soaked twice a day.

The seeds could also germinate if they had germinated for two months, most likely killing many of them. However, you will find that the fruits of ripe coffee cherries tend to be more successful. It may seem impossible for you to grow coffee cherries unless you are growing a coffee plant yourself. When buying a coffee plant, be sure to buy a plant that actually produces coffee beans. And although it is difficult to grow coffee, it is possible to grow a coffee bean plant in the comfort of your own home with some coffee kits on the market. The main coffee suppliers are Brazil (up 5.7 billion pounds), Vietnam (up 3.6 billion pounds), Colombia (up 1.7 billion pounds), Indonesia (up 1.4 billion pounds) and Ethiopia (grows 846 million pounds) in that order.

While your individual plant may grow faster or slower, it waits an average of three to four years before it starts to flower. That said, as climate change continues to raise temperatures around the world, the “coffee belt” grows, a strip of land along the tropics that is more hospitable for coffee cultivation. In Hawaii, coffee has been grown since the beginning of the 19th century, when coffee was imported and grown from Brazil. In most other states, temperatures are too volatile for Arabica coffee plants to thrive outdoors all year round. The coffee plant is grown in Puerto Rico, although it is not technically in the United States, it is the territory of the United States. Like any other plant, you can start with seeds and grow from the beginning, or buy a potted plant that has already sprouted some leaves.

Sweet Maria, a home coffee roasting provider based in West Oakland, California, says you should soak the seeds in water for 12 to 24 hours to encourage embryo growth. Ruskey has also put tens of thousands more plants that will be ready for sale as varietal seedlings in about 10 months, to large growers or backyard gardeners.

Glenna Matthys
Glenna Matthys

Hardcore internet practitioner. Wannabe beer advocate. Infuriatingly humble beer expert. Devoted coffee evangelist. Hardcore social media scholar. Friendly beer fanatic.