Kentucky Coffee Tree (herein KCT) is a really cool tree we’ve been getting to know over the last few years. It’s another helpful member of the bean family, along with black locust, honey locust, and many other herbaceous perennials and annuals.
KCT shines in its adaptability. It is an extremely tough tree which can grow in harsh conditions, like along city streets where it is often seen. In it’s natural setting, KCT grows mostly along river floodplains and rich valleys. Like most of its bean relatives, it likes as much sun as it can get.
It is nitrogen fixing, meaning it can get it’s own nitrogen for growth from the atmosphere. It grows quickly and gets independent before you know it, but it does not grow as rapidly as black locust does.
The beans pods are thicker than honey locust pods but shorter. The seeds contained in these pods have an extremely tough seed coat that I imagine would crack teeth on any squirrel that tried to eat them for a snack!
Lucky for us, it is from the huge seeds that we can get the Kentucky Coffee! The seeds are roasted, cracked and brewed into a dark, rich drink like coffee. As usual, see Sam Thayer’s book “Incredible Wild Edibles” for a detailed description of the process.
Growth Parameters:
Expect a full sized tree!
