It usually separates 3 to 4½ meters (10–15 feet) from the ground into three or four divisions which spread slightly and form a narrow pyramidal head; or when crowded by other trees, sending up one tall central branchless shaft to the height of 15–21 m (50–70 ft).

The trees are dioecious, and the fruit is a hard-shelled bean in heavy, woody, thick-walled pods filled with sweet, thick, gooey pulp.

[10] Gymnocladus is derived from the Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos) "branch" and γυμνός (gumnós) "naked" and refers to the stout branchlets unclothed with small twigs.

[16][17] The tough, leathery seed pods are too difficult for many extant animals to chew through (in addition to being poisonous) and they are too heavy for either wind or water dispersal.

It has been hypothesized that the tree would have been browsed upon by now-extinct mammalian megafauna,[18] which ate the pods and nicked the seeds with their large teeth, aiding in germination.

Today, in the wild, it only grows well in wetlands, and it is thought that only in such wet conditions can the seed pods rot away to allow germination in the absence of large herbivores.

[7] Their growth is largely unaffected by heat, cold, drought, insects, disease, road salt, ice, and alkaline soil.

[21] The beans of the tree were eaten, after roasting, in the Meskwaki (Fox), Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and Pawnee Native American cultures.

[22] The common name "coffeetree" derives from this latter use of the roasted seeds, which was imitated by settlers because it seemed a substitute for coffee,[23] especially in times of poverty, similar to chicory.

The European colonialists, however, considered it inferior to real coffee: When Kentucky was first settled by the adventurous pioneers from the Atlantic states who commenced their career in the primeval wilderness, almost without the necessaries of life, except as they produced them from the fertile soil, they fancied that they had discovered a substitute for coffee in the seeds of this tree; and accordingly the name of coffee-tree was bestowed upon it.

But when communication was established with the sea-ports, they gladly relinquished their Kentucky beverage for the more grateful flavor of the Indian berry; and no use is at present made of it in that manner.

[25] Caution should be used when consuming, as unroasted or only partially roasted beans and pods are considered poisonous and are reputed to contain the alkaloid cytisine.

[26] Many sources claim that roasting the seeds for a certain length of time can reduce or eliminate the cytisine thought to be in them, but this is not based on scientific evidence.

A Kentucky coffeetree lives in Rhode Island in the Roger Williams Park Zoo at 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence.

At the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, 19 Kentucky coffeetrees are planted in the Apollo courtyard prior to entry into the museum.

Originally the grove was mis-identified as a part of a program to remove invasive species, but the North Carolina Forest Service helped to confirm the proper identification of the trees.