Coffee Plant
Coffea arabica
📖 About this plant
An attractive evergreen shrub that produces the world’s beloved coffee beans. As a houseplant, it features glossy, deep green leaves with wavy margins and produces clusters of highly fragrant white star-shaped flowers, followed by green berries that ripen to deep red (coffee cherries). Each cherry contains two coffee beans. A conversation-starting plant that thrives in bright, indirect light.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
Bright indirect (4-6 hrs)
Every 1-2 weeks
Moderate to high (50-70%)
18-28°C
Rich, organic, slightly acidic potting mix (pH 6.0-6.5); peat-based with perlite and orchid bark for drainage
Balanced liquid fertilizer (10-10-10) every 2 weeks in spring and summer; reduce to monthly in autumn and winter
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- Ethiopia — highland forests of southwestern Ethiopia; introduced to Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula by the 15th century
- 📏 Max height
- 90-180 cm (3-6 ft indoors; 3-5 m outdoors in tropical climates)
- 📐 Spread
- 60-90 cm
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Spring - Summer
- 🎨 Bloom color
- White
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Dark Green, Glossy
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Perennial
- 📈 Growth rate
- Moderate
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Toxic to pets — all parts contain caffeine and theobromine; ingestion causes vomiting, diarrhea, elevated heart rate, tremors, and seizures in dogs and cats. Non-toxic to humans (we drink it!), though raw beans and leaves should not be eaten.
- 🌱 Propagation
- Fresh seeds (strip pulp and plant within 2 weeks — viability drops rapidly), or semi-ripe stem cuttings with rooting hormone
🛡️ Health & Safety
Toxic to pets — all parts contain caffeine and theobromine; ingestion causes vomiting, diarrhea, elevated heart rate, tremors, and seizures in dogs and cats. Non-toxic to humans (we drink it!), though raw beans and leaves should not be eaten.
Common issues
- Brown, crispy leaf tips from dry air or underwatering, Yellowing lower leaves from overwatering or nutrient deficiency, Scale insects and mealybugs on stems and leaf undersides, Slow growth or leggy stems in low light, Bud drop from cold drafts or sudden changes
💡 Care tips
- Glossy dark green leaves and aromatic white flowers,Can produce actual coffee beans after 3-5 years of growth,Prefers slightly acidic soil like its tropical mountain origins,Brown leaf edges usually indicate inconsistent watering
