Could I grow my own coffee at home?
Jan 16th, 2022
Photo by Dhan Sugui on Unsplash
Coffee, coffee, coffee…
My day always starts with coffee. I love the smell of coffee, I love the sound my old coffee machine makes as it squeezes the last drops of water out of the container and onto the powder.
I tell you, every night I look forward to my morning coffee – it might just be my favourite time of the day! My cup of coffee wakes up my brain and my creativity and anything on my list needs to get done in the morning.
But with my coffee in the morning I also always wonder is there away to make it more sustainable or is it sustainable as it is and are there things that need way more improvement?
Here’s how I make it: I use a paper filter and put it into an old coffee maker that’s probably oder than 20years. I add the powdered coffee bought from my local supermarket, add the water to the back of the machine, which heats it up and then it drips into the filter and then it slowly becomes morning coffee.
It’s black magic, isn’t it? Wikipedia defines it as: “Black magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes;[1]” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_magic) and I am definitely sticking to the superpower part of this definition. For a few hours of the day I feel like I have super powers which then leave me as the clock strikes noon.
So I need my daily dose of coffee in the morning. I don’t want to do without it. I know I could, I’ve tried it before, but it didn’t last long, because why would I want to start my day without magic?
image – http://hydroponicworkshop.blogspot.com/2013/10/journal-october-27-2013-coffee-arabica.html
When I started to learn about hydroponics I started with the basics and researched which foods you could actually grow hydroponically and I was stunned to learn that you can grow coffee hydroponically as well! Technically. There’s just that teeny tiny issue of WHERE you grow it and how many trees you would actually need and how to store the coffee and so on….
So wherever you look online, people seem to encourage everyone who wants to try it at home.
Apart form that teeny tiny space problem, one coffee plant takes about 3-5 years until you can harvest it for the first time and it might give you between 1 – 1.5 pounds per year. (https://totalgardener.com/can-you-grow-coffee-hydroponically/) So that’s roughly one packet per tree, which would mean at least 12 trees just for me alone.
It puts everything into perspective, doesn’t it?
But if (according to this source https://www.roastandpost.com/coffee-encyclopedia/from-tree-to-cup/the-coffee-plant/) one coffee plant can produce coffee anything between 30 to 50 years (YEARS) it is almost a great choice to grow your own at home – there’s no transportation involved, which means absolutely zero carbon footprint, 100% fair production and way better for the soil it usually grows on or for the water consumption!
Should every country on earth start to grow its own coffee? It’s possible, but not probable. There’s too much of an industry behind it I suppose and the people who grow the world’s supply of coffee would probably like to keep their jobs as well.
Maybe if the world could be persuaded to grow a part of the crops hydroponically in the bean belt, I think that would be a sustainable idea to get behind.
As for little me, I love the idea of harvesting my own coffee at home one day.
One day.
A girl can dream…
As for finding a sustainable coffee filter solution will be the subject of one of my next posts. There‘s so much to unpack here! There‘s so much material to learn and write about.
But for now,
please stay happy and healthy
Anna
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