Please, please write a blog about our coffee tree!
Yesterday afternoon, while hanging out down at the roastery, I was cornered. "Please, please", they pleaded, "write a blog about our coffee tree." "We sent you pictures!", they insisted. Not understanding their persistence, but desiring to accommodate their desire, I replied, "You have to give me a story, I have no angle, no connection." and then with a slight grin, continued, "Maybe I could make it part of a series I was hoping to start, called Occasional Objects, where we highlight some of the things around here that make this place great (like the business card holder with a stately old wing backed chair printed on the front)." They scoffed, "our tree, our tree, in an objects series?".
Luckily, just this afternoon, I got an e-mail (beginning with this plea: Edit/chop/delete/add as you wish but please post something! How could getting a real coffee tree not be exciting?) outlining the story of the tree, so here it is:
"One of our customers approached us claiming to have a 6 foot tall coffee plant growing in her apartment. Chuck & I were understandably skeptically but weren't going to pass up a chance at such a find especially with it being free. She even claimed it produced coffee cherries regularly as well.
When we got the tree it was a little disheartening. Yes, it was 6 ft tall and had some dried cherries on it, but it also had extensive sun-damage and was root-bound in a pot that was much too small for it's size.
Chuck took on the task of nursing it back to health. After re-potting it and fresh watering we got a sign of hope: a fresh bloom of flowers that sprouted and over night it sprouted and it has been flourishing and adding new leaves ever since.
A recent response on twitter gave us a lead on what varietal it could be. Guessing from the slightly wavy leaves and predominance of caturra as a household coffee plant, and likely that's what it is. Caturra is a mutation of Coffee Bourbon discovered in Brazil. It is a mutation with high production and good quality, but requires extensive care and fertilization."
The beloved coffee tree:
Now with the story laid out before us, I end with this: for some reason or another, this coffee tree has become much more than a quaint addition to the cupping room, it has become a real connection to life and perseverance and care. Of course the tree is no mere object, it is alive, and reminds us and connects us with all of the people who care for and nurture the plants that provide our coffee we serve to you all.
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