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We bought a coffe plant on a visit to the Eden project, it died though (well went cripsy cos I forgot to water it. ) . dunno if it would have produced beans if it had survived though.

pretty sure i could grow coffee here, will have to get some seeds.

i like a cup in the morning, and hate the distance it has come (even if it is 'fair trade' or 'organic'). another one on my list of to-dos.

I've got my beans in The Fee Fairy's Patented Growing Miracle!
I've got an empty coffee jar (thought i'd remind the beans what they were...) on the radiator (not that the radiator's on...) with some wet kitchen roll in the bottom.

Then, i put about 10 beans in the jar and put the lid on and left them.

I've taken out 4 or so that went mouldy, and after about 4 months, i have 2 sprouting very very very slowly. The website i read said up to 6 months for germination, so give it some time!

The beans swell first, and then slooooowly sprout roots.

I did the same with the lychees, and the Carob plant, and they all sprouted (the lychees were really strange - the sprouted one at a time as if they needed a certain amount of room each, so one went first, then the second, then the third - when the ones before it had been taken out and potted on).

Is anyone growing Tea? I've got some Camellia Sinensis that i followed the instructions on, and it was planted about 2 months ago and there's not been the slightest hint of germination. I knew i should have gone with The Fee Fairy's Patented Growing Miracle (jam jar)!

Ive done exactly that with my coffee beans but they look like theyre going mouldy now! Will keep going tho.

Have been trying tea for about a month so far and nothings happened. Instructions did say that it has to be kept damp and I keep forgetting

Try taking the worst looking ones out. Any that look swollen should stay in the jar - they're the ones that are going to sprout!

My tea's been a dead loss i think. might have to go on Ebay for some new seeds and try the Jam Jar method.

A couple of years ago I decided to try growing a coffee plant as an ornamental houseplant (no intention of trying to grow my own coffee crop).

I've been buying my coffee beans online from Eve coffee (formerly Glo) for several years - since I was unable to find a local source of fairtrade whole bean coffee and didn't want to stop buying fairtrade once I bought a coffee grinder. One time while I was placing an order, I added a note to ask if they could send me a few unroasted beans so that I could try growing a coffee plant. They sent me a couple of dozen beans, free of charge.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any of the beans to germinate, although I just tried planting them directly in a pot and leaving it on the windowsill. I still have a few of the beans left, but they are probably about 3 years old by now so I doubt I could get them to germinate even if I tried more sophisticated methods.

I'd still like to get my hands on a coffee plant though.

- Magnus

From what i read when i got my coffee beans (which are just starting to get their first leaves now...) was that if they're over 3 months old then they're not likely to grow at all.

I don't know if your beans were older than that when you got them.