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A coffee plant, if not propagated from a
cutting, begins life as a sprout issuing from a "parchment" bean which
has been plated in shallow, sandy soil. As the sprout takes root, it
pushes the bean out of the soil. In a few day's time the first two
leaves emerge from the bean, now at the top of the tiny sprout. The old
bean husk, hollow, soon falls to the ground. Next, the tiny seedling is
transferred to its individual container in a nursery.
For about a year, it is tended carefully
and introduced to open weather as the nursery "roof" of logs or other
protective covering, is gradually removed; at most, a few hours per day
of direct sun is all the rather temperamental coffee will ever want. The
small plant will then be set out in the field, possibly under the
protection of a banana tree's broad leaves, particularly if the
plantation is located on flat terrain nearer the Equator, where the
sun's rays are more direct. If the tree is planted on a mountain slope,
it may need not protection, as mountain-sides receive direct sun for
only part of a day, and coffee trees on high plateau often enjoy the
humidity and sun-screen resulting from high altitude cloud-cover.
For several years the tree will not
produce any fruit, although it may require irrigation, pruning, weeding,
spraying, fertilization and mulching. The latter two help if the soil is
not the best for coffee, which thrives in the rich loam formed from
volcanic ash, full of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. Finally,
when the tree is four to five years old, it bears its first crop. It
quickly reaches its productive peak within a couple of years, but will
yield fruit for a total of about twenty to twenty-five years, during
which time it must be constantly tended.
All coffee trees are capable of bearing
blossom, green fruit and ripe fruit simultaneously on the same branch,
thus almost certainly necessitating harvesting by hand. There are one or
two main harvest, and possibly several secondary harvests, as the
growing seasons vary depending on the species and the location. A coffee
plantation, therefore, is seldom without some blossoms. The flowers,
which develop in clusters, are creamy-white and produce a fragrance
reminiscent of jasmine. The flowers last only a few days; they are soon
replaced by clusters of small green berries, which take several months
to become ripe red cherries, ready for picking.
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