Can you take coffee beans on a plane?

The rule for coffee beans comes from the Civil Aviation Bureau's list of restricted items. On international flights its liquids list applies as well.

Whole beans, ground coffee and single-cup drip bags are dry coffee. The lists keep dry coffee apart from the drink.

Beans and the drink are separate entries

The TSA keeps separate entries for Coffee (Beans or Ground) and Coffee (Liquid). The first shows Yes for carry-on with no size figure; the second is capped at 3.4oz/100 ml. South Korea's list is split in a similar way, though its dry entry is headed Coffee (powder type), a heading that names powder and not whole beans.

Ground coffee under Australia's powder rules

Australia limits certain powders in carry-on on international flights, and ground coffee is on the free side of that line. The TravelSECURE page restricts inorganic powders such as salt and sand, and lists coffee as an organic powder with no limit on the amount. It adds that all powders may need to be presented separately at the screening point.

A dense bag on the X-ray belt

A kilo of beans is a solid block to a scanner. The TSA's coffee entry says officers may tell travelers to take foods and powders out of their carry-on bags. GOV.UK says food items and powders may lead to the bag being checked again by hand, and that packing them in hold luggage keeps delays down.

Canned and bottled coffee

Coffee is printed on Japan's liquids list, but as a drink: it shares the Other Soft Drinks row with tea and nutrition drinks. A JAL Card travel column says so in plain words, naming juice, coffee, tea, water and milk and calling every drink people normally consume a restricted item.

Bringing it into Japan: roasted coffee

A quarantine feature in the agriculture ministry's magazine lists what can be brought in without a check at the quarantine counter. Roasted coffee is on that list, next to processed tea such as sealed dried leaves and tea bags, roasted nuts and dried fruit. The feature notes that carried goods still go through customs inspection.

Bringing it into Japan: green, unroasted beans

Unroasted beans are handled as plants. The Plant Protection Station names green coffee beans among the dried plants that no longer need an inspection certificate from the exporting country, and states that the import inspection is still required. Its briefing Q&A gives the reason: green beans normally arrive in a dried state.

The carry-on answer for coffee beans is the same in all 4 other places we checked.

Each row comes from that authority's own page. Airlines can be stricter, and the screening officer has the final say.