Kentucky Coffee trees are relatively rare and grow in some of the mid-Eastern states of the US, including the lower half of Michigan. I have seen two so far- one on the side of the road and one used in town as an ornamental.
The bean pods of this tree are hard to mistake. Unlike the Honeylocust, Catalpa and other bean trees, the Kentucky Coffee Tree has short, stubby beans... not long dangling ones. In addition, this tree hardly has foliage for half the year. Its Latin name actually means "naked branch" because of this weird trait.
After you've collected some pods, Break them open and collect the seeds. The inside has a sticky film, so the beans will probably need to be washed off. Afterward they can be slowly roasted (300 degrees for 3 hours) in the oven. This is important- you can't eat the un-roasted beans because they're poisonous! Some sources say the are poisonous in large quantities as well. But for our purposes we will not be consuming large quantities.
If you don't want to eat them, the beans make very nice beads! Polish, coat with a sealant and then drill a hole through the middle.
When the beans are roasted, it's time to grind! I don't have a real grinder, so I used my handy-dandy Vitamix dry container.
Happy grinding!
-Bethany