KENTUCKY COFFEE BEAN TREE

Daniel Boone didn't always have real coffee, but he had this. And if you like your coffee decaf, but don't like paying for it, you'll enjoy this too.



The tree is identified by its long 2-3 foot leaves, divided into anywhere from 7 to 14 leaflets. The tree is among the last to get leaves in the spring, and the first to lose them in the fall. But over the winter, unless you have a huge windstorm, the tree will retain these seed pods:



When you open the pods up, it will look something like this:



WARNING: Use only the beans, discarding the pods and washing the pulp from the beans. Roast the beans in a COVERED roasting pan at 300 degrees for three hours.

The pan you roast them in MUST be covered. The beans will pop like popcorn, and mess up your oven if it is uncovered.

After they've been roasted, grind the beans in your coffee grinder or blender to the consistency of ordinary coffee, and run brew in your coffee maker or percolator as you would ordinary coffee.

Experiment with how strong you like it. I used about 2 teaspoons per cup, and it tasted about right for me.

Onward and upward,
airforce