I had a farm in Leicester..... no, no, that is not true, I have garden it is just a garden and yet, and yet here I am on the cusp of my own coffee plantation.
You don't believe me? shame on you. Let me present exhibit A
This is my own little coffee plant. I bought two late last year, one for my son for a christmas present and one for myself - isn't that the way we all buy christmas presents? I waited for them to arrive with barely concealed excitement. Then they arrived and as I picked the parcel up it made that sound. You know that sound, that sound that no parcel should make. The sound from the parcel was of broken pottery. I opened the parcel with trepidation and the pots surrounding the plants were smashed to smithereens. Quel horreur!
I rang the seller and explained the issue. I sent photos of the mess and explained that the plants were fine but the containers were not. No problem, I was told, replacements are winging their way to you as we speak.....
and they were. They arrived within a day or so and so after gifting one to my son as per the original intention, I now have three coffee plants. Three plants that I admit I was not sure how robust they would be, I feared they might die within days in a pointsettia sort of way.
Here they are, a good six weeks after arrival still looking perky and growing well. I have given them a bit of a seaweed feed and they smiled back at me in appreciation. I am more than pleased with them and think it might be the start of Leicester's first coffee plantation. A girl can dream.....