(Gymnocladus dioicus)
A coffee tree? Competition for Tim Hortons? Hardly. The story goes that early colonial settlers observed how some Natives, such as the Meskwaki and Pawnee drank roasted ground seeds in a hot beverage similar to coffee. The pioneers readily adopted this practice, bestowing the term ‘coffee trees’ on these majestic trees. The name stuck, but the usage did not. It was soon considered inferior to real coffee and likely still is.
Although the Kentucky Coffeetree is still considered a rare species, it’s popularity as an urban street tree has swelled the ranks of this native American considerably. Here’s how Michael Dirr describes it – ‘like the ugly duckling that turns into the beautiful swan, this one-armed nursery broomstick slowly develops an elegant branch structure, becoming better each year to become one of the finest of the noble trees. A magnificent shade tree.’
The Kentucky Coffeetree is also known to be a nitrogen fixer. No doubt this enables it to adapt to such a wide range of soil ph and fertility. Drought and urban pollution don’t seem to faze this fine tree either.
One last thing – if you intend to gather the seed pods to brew some alternative coffee, be sure to roast the seeds. Some sources suggest the raw seeds may be toxic.

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