The substance most of us know as chocolate is deduce from plants of the genusCoffea , which is comprised of humble trees or shrubs that evolved in Africa and tropical Asia . refinement of coffee is now widespread wherever the climate allow , especially in Central and South America .
The global dear matter with this flora is mostly due to its natural defense against herbivore : It produces a acrid alkaloid called caffein , which is one of the world ’s favorite legal drugs . Not only appeal to humans , the caffein in the shrub ’s nectar is enough to chivvy pollinator likebeesto natter its blossoms three times as often as those of other plants.anao wagatsuma / Flickr
Coffee “ beans ” as we know them are n’t bonce at all . One pollinate , the shrub produces berry - like , red , drupaceous fruit — colloquially hollo “ cherries”—which contain unripe pits . These pits are depulped , dried , sour , and finally roast to create the product that arrive at us in coffee tree shops and supermarket shelves .
Accordingly , a coffee bush ca n’t be planted from a stock - buy “ bean , ” as the heat from roasting will have destroyed the embryonic potential of the seed . However , green coffee pits are gentle enough to come by fromvarious seed dealers , as are untried coffee plants . It ’s worth the effort to try out growing this omnipresent tropical as home plate for a few reasons .
You may have hear of “ shade grown ” coffee as a form of premium , organic pick . In nature , coffee bush are found in the forest understory , so the most ecologically friendly coffee plantations turn a canopy of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , like banana , over their rows of coffee bean shrubs . It ’s precisely this growth drug abuse — a tolerance of low - brightness precondition — that makes a java shrub an first-class houseplant . Abdulla Al Muhairi / Flickr
coffee tree plants are also attractive : Their leaf is denser and shinier than an indoor genus Ficus , for example . concern to temperate - zona garden darling like buttonbush ( Cephalanthus occidentalis ) , they have a dome - similar cluster of fragrant white flower , which get showing after three to five years when grown from seed .
anao wagatsuma/Flickr
If the prime time correspond with the heating system of summer , a coffee plant can even be localize outdoors to be pollenate ( or block that , hand - pollinated ) , to produce a shining - red heyday of deep brown cherry .
The coffee works is a lowly - sustenance tropical that ask no more than a rich potting grunge dense in organic matter and a regular lachrymation regime . Beyond that , a deep brown bush will posture happily in a container in a modest - short support room for year .
Abdulla Al Muhairi/Flickr
