Growing coffee in Wisconsin?

The idea of drinking coffee in Wisconsin is standard, but growing it in Wisconsin is absurd.  

That is until I received a phone call from a local resident wondering if her bright red coffee beans were ready to harvest on her coffee bean plant in her house.  

Having absolutely no experience in growing coffee beans, I was intrigued by the whole idea of growing coffee in Wisconsin.

Coffee is typically grown in the very tropical areas of the world, such as Brazil, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. These plants can thrive under artificial light and consistent temperatures indoors.

Start with the seed. Most likely, you will have to purchase green coffee from a supplier.  Green coffee is the beans that have not yet been roasted.

Try to get beans that have been harvested fairly recently. It may take nearly four months for the bean seeds to germinate. It is recommended to pre-germinate the seeds. Soak them in water for 24 hours, and then sow in damp to wet sand or vermiculite. Water twice a day, but make sure the media drains well.  

Once the plants have germinated, transplant the seedlings into a light weight potting soil.  Do not press the soil over the germinating seed. Once germination is complete, transplant once more into the final growing media. It can be the same type of light weight mix with added sand and manure.  

The pH of the soil should be low (acidic). A fertilizer appropriate for orchids can be used sparingly for the coffee plant to maintain mineral levels and a low pH.

Watering is one of the keys to growing your own coffee plant. The soil must be kept moist but well-drained. Water twice per week in what is called a full and a half watering. A half watering is simply adding water to the soil and allowing it to drain. A full watering is adding water, allowing it to drain, then adding water with fertilizer and allow it to drain.

After two to three years, you can expect flowering and possibly cherries. To spur flowering, wait until the beginning of winter and reduce the watering for two or three months. In early spring water the plant well and continue watering regularly. This should shock the plant into producing flowers.  

If cherries are produced, they will be ready for harvest when they are bright red, glossy, and firm. Over-ripe or under-ripe cherries do not produce good coffee.

The first step after harvest is pulping coffee. This can be done at home by hand where the flesh is squished and squeezed until the seeds are removed. The slimy film remaining on the bean, called mucilage, can be left on and dried or sent to the fermentation area where it will be removed.

This process is where the beans are mixed with water for 16 to 36 hours. Large processors use what looks like a cement tank. The beans must then be dried down to 11 percent or 12 percent moisture content. After pulping, beans will have between 60 percent and 70 percent moisture so you can determine the stopping point simply by weighing them.

Large cement or asphalt patios are used initially to dry down the beans. Laying them in the sun and turning them periodically will take between seven days and 14 days to dry. The sun is a key requirement for some of the initial stages in drying for the highest quality coffee. Mechanical drying is used for some of the final stages, but temperatures should never exceed 113 degrees fahrenheit or 45 degrees celsius.  

Once the beans are dried, they are considered green. They still have to be roasted before grinding and steeping.  

Freshly roasted beans give the highest quality coffee. Roasted beans are good for four hours to 48 hours before they should be used. Roasters and roasting techniques are readily available. Many people now have their own grinders at home as well.

This whole process is very intriguing to me. I only wish I liked coffee.