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The day I discovered that squishing those delightful little lavender buds into my coffee grounds produced an incredible and simple lavender coffee was a good day indeed.

We currently have about twenty lavender plants on the farm that have been growing for several years, with at least another twenty seedlings in the basement to plant this year. Lavender is absolutely incredible!

It thrives on neglect (ahem… mom of four here. I specialize in accidentally neglecting plants these days)
Lavender seems to love our hot and humid summers in central NC
The flowers attract our honeybees and other pollinators
The flowers are edible fresh and can be made into things like fresh lavender coffee, lavender ice cream, lavender muffins, etc. The flavor isn’t quite as strong as dried lavender, but it always comes through.
You can gather it by the bundle, hang it upside down to dry while at the same time making your home look like a lovely cottage on the inside!
LAVENDER COFFEE! It’s the way we use it most often, and if you dry enough this can be your special brew all year long!

How to Grow Lavender at Home

We started ours from seed, but it was a lengthy process. My husband grows plants for a living and had no problem getting these started, but my black thumb killed quite a few before he came to the rescue!

If you’re starting from seed, you’ll need to place the seeds in the fridge for at least 4 weeks. We’ve bought coated seeds in the past and those worked well. Once the seeds are planted, DON’T OVERWATER. The same goes for the plants. We start ours in seed trays in the basement and transplant once the frost-free date arrives.

To transplant, we’ve always planted ours in a slight mound of soil mixed with sand. Instead of mulch on top, I use some gravel. We do water the plants the first year if we don’t get frequent rain. Lavender likes to be dry, and in our very humid climate we’ve found we don’t need to do anything at all once the plants are established!

If brewing lavender coffee or another culinary treat is your end goal, you might want to stick with the English lavenders as they tend to be best for cooking.

How to Make Lavender Coffee

Step 1: put ground coffee in your drip coffee maker or reusable pod as normal. Take about 2 dried flower heads and crumble/smush the buds on top of your coffee grounds.

Step 2: Brew your coffee as normal

IT IS REALLY THAT EASY! If you want to get fancy and add a luscious vanilla whipped cream topping, read on.

Step 3: Pour about 1/4 cup whipping cream and 1/2 tsp vanilla into a small cup and froth with a frother if you have one. Otherwise, whip with a hand mixer. We have a Ninja coffee maker that comes with a frother, and that this is so dang convenient!

Honey Optional: I usually don’t like my coffee sweet, but occasionally I”ll mix a dab of fresh honey into the concoction for a morning treat!

FAQs for Lavender Coffee

Does it matter what kind of lavender? While you can use any lavender for culinary purposes, the English lavenders tend to be the best. French lavender can have a higher camphor-like scent, so for that reason many people stick with the sweeter plants (Vera, Munstead, and Hidcote are favorites here)

How does it taste with flavored coffees? One of my favorites is to sprinkle lavender in with a hazelnut coffee! Lavender can compliment a lot of flavors, so let us know what successful combos you try.

I can’t taste much lavender. What happened? If you are using fresh lavender buds, know that they won’t be quite as potent as the fragrance from dried lavender. While I use about two flower tips of dried, I would increase that amount if you’re using fresh lavender.