Coral Island Best Crops Guide

Coral Island Best Crops Guide

Coral Island is an RPG simulator game, taking clear influence from games like Stardew Valley and, at times, being reminiscent of Animal Crossing. Currently, in its early access state, the developer Stairway Games are working hard to provide monthly updates.

The game is bright and colorful, offering a brief respite from reality while you play. However, to experience the game to its fullest, you may want to rack up some Coins quickly or grow the best crops possible. This Coral Island Best Crops guide is designed for just that, taking you through the different Island ranks, considering which crop is the best of the best.

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At a Glance

  • The Best of F Rank: Hot Pepper
  • The Best of E Rank: The Orchid
  • The Best of D Rank: Grapes
  • The Best of C Rank: Snowdrops
  • The Best Overall: Flowers, specifically Orchids and Snowdrops.

Getting Every Crop

Coral Island Best Crops Guide
Image by Tallis Spalding

It’s worth noting that you will not have access to every crop in the game. Some are locked behind the requirement of making it to Year 2, but most are locked behind rank requirements. You can increase Coral Island’s rank by cleaning up the ocean through diving, donating to the museum, and completing the Sesajen Bundles to restore the heritage sites.

Depending on your playstyle, you’ll probably progress at different rates from others, so I’ve taken the liberty of breaking up the best crops not only by season but by rank as well.

Rank System

It’s worth noting for those who are not familiar with the ranking system in Coral Island that your Island’s rank will start out at F. From there, you can progress upwards to, in the current Early Access stages, B. However, our last batch of brand-new crops arrives in Rank C. As such, we will only be looking at the Best Crops from Rank F to Rank C.

Selection Criteria

There are a few things to consider when determining what the best crop to grow is – we will mainly be looking at profits versus expenses and utility. Here are the criteria used to decide the best crop:

  • Profit Margin (cost of the seed versus how much you earn after selling)
  • Speed of Growth
  • Artisinal versus straight out of the ground
  • Quest Requirements
  • Giftability
  • Availability

F Rank

Coral Island Best Crops F Rank
Image by Tallis Spalding

F rank will offer the fewest options and be among the hardest ranks to progress through. This is thanks to it being the beginning stages of the game when you’re first learning how to parse out your time while still maintaining some level of productivity. For this stage, I mainly recommend producing many crops with a high-profit margin rather than crops with quest requirements.

During this stage, we also won’t be concerning ourselves with whether or not something will rake in more profit as an artisanal good or not.

Spring

  • Best Crop: Cauliflower
  • Seed Cost: 70 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 8 Days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 210 Coins

The best vegetable you can get your hands on at this tier is the Cauliflower.

You might be dissuaded from it by the long growth time and the fact that you can only get three harvests of Cauliflower per season, but it really is worth it. Compared to another profitable vegetable, the potato, the Cauliflower will earn you 5 coins more in revenue per plot. Over three harvests, a single plot of Cauliflower will reward you with 210 coins of profit. As an added benefit, Betty loves Cauliflower, so you can easily use just a bit of your harvest to win her heart!

Although Cauliflower isn’t needed in the Spring Sesajen Bundle, its profit margins make up for it significantly.

Summer

  • Best Crop: Hot Pepper
  • Seed Cost: 40 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 7 days (initial growth), regrows in 3 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 170 Coins

By this point, you should have your Farming skill up high enough to at least have access to the Mason Jar, if not the Keg. So, we’re going to start taking Artisinal versus Raw Crop into account from this point on. It’s worth noting that Artisinal will do a fair bit to bring up the price of your crops, but you will have to wait longer before you can sell them.

Regardless, when we’re looking at a profit above-all-else situation, it will absolutely be worth it in the long run. Regardless of what crop you throw into the Keg or the Mason Jar, you’ll make your profits go up!

Summer is also when we get access to two new categories: Fruits and Grains.

Hot Pepper

Hands down, the best vegetable (and overall crop) you can go for at this rank and season is the Hot Pepper. Not only is a Hot Pepper needed for the Summer Sesajen, but if you plant it at the beginning of the season, you’ll get seven harvests (from a single seed!) for a total of 210 Coins per plant. The plants that regrow have a high-return, low-cost rate, so they’re absolutely a must-plant.

As an additional bonus, Hot Peppers will push on into the Fall, which means that you won’t have to spend as much on seeds come the next season. Profit will continue to roll on through your door (so long as you keep watering).

If you’re trying to gain Frank’s friendship, you’re in luck because he loves Hot Peppers.

Fall

  • Best Crop: The Orchid
  • Seed Cost: 75 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 8 Days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 135 Coins (Standard), 285 (Honey)

While you can keep growing the Hot Pepper into Fall, you’ll have to buy any extra seeds you might need in the Summer from Sam. So, we’ll consider the crops available other than the Hot Pepper.

The Orchid

The Orchid is the best (and only) flower you can access during this season and rank. Arguably, and by my criteria, it is the best crop of F rank’s Fall. By itself, the Orchid has a higher profit margin than Rice and the Sweet Potato at 135 Coins per plot after the season is over. Even better, its honey sells for 360 Coins. If you have enough hives around, you’ll make money pretty quickly by using the Orchids.

Even better than its profit margins, the Orchid is needed for the Fall Sesajen bundle and is beloved by Eva and Kira. If you’re trying to romance Eva, don’t hesitate to plant a meadow!

E Rank

Coral Island Best Crops E Rank
Image by Tallis Spalding

This next rank came come sometime in the first year or after it, depending on how you play. Regardless, with this rank comes a slew of new (and better) crops. For the sake of ease, we will be assuming that E rank is reached in year 2. This means any crops that are specific to rank E and year 2 will be included in considerations for what the best crop is.

Spring

  • Best Crop: The Poppy
  • Seed Cost: 30 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 7 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 126 (Standard), 185 (Honey)

We have access to a swath of new crops come Year 2 and rank E; however, the best is yet to come for later ranks. Even still, what we have access to now is a slight improvement from the previous rank.

The Poppy

Like the previous rank’s Fall, the flower will be your best and most profitable crop – but you need a lot of beehives to achieve this. Fortunately, at this point, you should have access to the materials to build a lot of beehives. If you haven’t already built a lot of beehives, what are you waiting for?

In year two and with the E rank, we access two new flowers: the Peony and the Poppy. However, the Poppy offers not only more profit with 72 Coins per flower, but it also offers a much higher honey-selling price at 215 Coins. They’re generally liked by everyone on the island as well, Charles and Yuri aside.

But, where these have a higher profit margin, I’d recommend growing one of the cheaper flowers to gift, like the Daisy. You’ll get the same results either way, so you might as well save some Coin!

Summer

  • Best Crop: The Melon
  • Seed Cost: 130 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 12 Days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 170 Coins (Standard), 300 Coins (Keg)

While we get access to a few new things in Summer, flowers are one of them. So, we’ll be leaving flowers out for consideration for this rank’s best crop.

The Melon

Although I’m going to tell you that the best crop you can grow in summer is the Melon, it is for one reason and one reason alone: its artisanal value. A melon can churn out 430 coins if placed in a Keg and 325 if placed in a Mason Jar. With that said, I highly recommend taking the time leading up to this point (or now, if you’re at this point) to designate a portion of your farm for as many Kegs as possible.

Building a Keg section for your farm will serve you well later on and will generally help you produce more high-profit products in a constant rotation.

Fall

  • Best Crop: Pumpkin/Orchid
  • Seed Cost: 90 Coins/75 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 13 days (initial growth), regrows in 7 days/8 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 210 Coins/135 Coins (Standard), 285 (Honey)

As Fall comes around for the  E rank, we gain access to an entirely new crop category: herbs. Unfortunately, the ones offered so far have no use outside of cooking unless you enjoy making meals to munch on throughout the day. Plus, they don’t offer much profit, so we’ll pass on considering them as one of the best crops.

Pumpkin

The Pumpkin is going to be the best, highest-profit crop you’ll be able to grow for the E rank Fall, but it is expensive with initially low returns. Each seed costs 90 Coins, with the Pumpkin’s sell price being 100 Coins. However, the saving grace of this crop is that it will regrow every seven days.

So, you’ll end up with a return of 210 Coins per plot. Putting your Pumpkin in a Keg will boost individual sell prices to 200 Coins a piece, so if you’ve already set up the Keg section, you might as well use it!

The Orchid

Although an F rank flower, and the dominator of the previous rank’s Fall, it still holds strong for E rank – but only if you set it up with some beehives. With each honey-selling for 360 Coins, you’d also be remiss not to do it this time.

The Orchid’s profits are high enough that, with enough Beehives, it could easily overtake the Pumpkin. But, considering what the Pumpkin does bring to the table, the two can take the title of “best” together.

D Rank

Coral Island Best Crops D Rank
Image by Tallis Spalding

Spring

  • Best Crop: Strawberries
  • Seed Cost: 145 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 10 Days (initial growth), regrows in 4 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 400 Coins

Strawberries

For this coming Spring season, Strawberries are the definitive way to go. Strawberries have a profit of 400 Coins per tile over the season and will continuously produce fruit every four days after the initial growth. Sugarcane does offer a slightly higher profit, at 10 Coins more, but Strawberries are significantly more useful than Sugarcane.

Strawberries are loved by Aaliyah, Charles (one of the only characters who dislikes flowers), and Paul, whereas Sugarcane is only loved by Millie. Even better is that Sugarcane is actively disliked by four of Coral Island’s residents (Eva, Leah, Raj, and Scott), whereas Strawberries are only disliked by two (Lily and Macy)!

Summer

  • Best Crop: Pineapple
  • Seed Cost: 110 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 9 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 225 Coins (Standard), 260 Coins (Keg)

Pineapple

Yes, Pineapple is definitively the best fruit for Summer. And yes, all you pineapple pizza lovers can make some in Coral Island (even though I disagree with your actions). Pineapple is loved by Joko and can be made into significantly better options than putting it on pizza, like Pineapple upside-down cake.

It has a profit of 225 Coins over the season, but it’s better used in the Keg or the Mason Jar, where each fruit will have a 370 and 280 Coin profit, respectively.

Fall

  • Best Crop: Grapes
  • Seed Cost: 150 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 9 Days (initial growth), regrows in 6 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 100 Coins (Standard), 370 Coins (Keg)

Grapes

While Grapes may be one of the most expensive investments you can make for D rank’s Fall, it is worth it in every sense of the word, but only if you have the previously mentioned Keg set-up. Turning your Grapes from their raw fruit form into Wine is guaranteed to make you a lot of Coin, even after the season has come and gone.

Store the Grapes that won’t fit into the Kegs in a nearby chest and check daily, refilling as needed. And, unlike Stardew Valley, grapes aren’t planted on a trellis, meaning you can walk through them freely.

C Rank

Coral Island Best Crops C Rank
Image by Tallis Spalding

Our crop selection is limited, but fortunately, what is available is pretty nice. This is when you will finally have access to every crop in the game so far. However, we don’t gain access to any new Crops in Summer, so we’ll stick with the Pineapple as the all-around best Summer crop to grow. We do, however, gain access to an entirely new season’s worth of growth and harvests – Winter.

Spring

  • Best Crop: Snowdrops
  • Seed Cost: 45 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 12 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 130 Coins (Standard), 255 Coins (Honey)

Snowdrops

Snowdrops come in as a new flower and will be your best C rank crop to utilize for this Spring. At this point, you should have a fairly well-expanded and automated farm, so all you’ll really have to do is buy some seeds and put them down.

After that, your farm will take care of itself! Once they’re grown, stick them in a beehive, and you’ll get some Snowdrop Honey that will sell for 300 Coins. Even better is that Snowdrops are needed to complete the Winter Sesajen bundle!

Fall

  • Best Crop: Fairy Rose
  • Seed Cost: 135 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 8 Days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 75 Coins (Standard), 425 (Honey)

Fairy Rose

Although I was torn between Garlic and the Fairy Rose for this decision, Fairy Rose’s ultimately won out as the best crop for C rank’s Fall. Their basic sell price doesn’t make the investment worth it, but at this point, you should know that Artisinal will always be better.

So, pop your Fairy Roses into a beehive, and you’ll churn out 500 Coins for each one you sell. Fairy Rose Honey has the second highest selling price in the game, second only by Wine, which sells for 20 Coins more. Fortunately, Grapes are also available in Fall, so you can churn out massive profits this season.

Winter

  • Best Crop: Snowdrops
  • Seed Cost: 45 Coins
  • Harvest Time: 12 days
  • 28-day Profit Margin: 130 Coins (Standard), 255 Coins (Honey)

Rank C is the only time winter crops will be available for purchase and growing, so where you may have been seriously lacking farming profits in Winter, you can finally start to make up for that.

Snowdrops

As our new season comes, it only comes with three crops: The Snowdrop, Tea Leaf, and Cotton. However, Snowdrop has the highest profit margins out of the three, especially if you use a beehive, just like in Spring. Its prominence in the C rank would, arguably, make the Snowdrop the crowned champion and best crop of the C rank.

Best Overall

Coral Island Best Crops Best Overall
Image by Tallis Spalding

If there’s anything I’ve noticed in the making of this article, it’s that there’s a pattern: flowers are, generally, the best. Aside from Yuri and Charles, they are liked by everyone on Coral Island for gifts, and they sell for a fair amount usually. Even better than that, if you work up a swarm’s worth of beehives, you can make a killing on honey alone. Out of the flowers, I would crown two grand champions: Snowdrops and Orchids.

While Orchids have a higher profit, they are only available in Fall. Snowdrops, on the other hand, are available in both Spring and Winter, which makes them edge out on availability. Both are needed for their respective seasonal bundles (with Snowdrops mainly being considered a Winter plant), and both are giftable!

Orchids beat out the Fairy Rose because, while the latter may have a significantly higher Honey sell-price, Orchids are available much earlier in the game and are more accessible and available!

FAQ

Question: When does Coral Island come out?

Answer: Coral Island was released for early access on October 11, 2022. As of writing this article, there is no official full release date yet.

Question: Will Coral Island be on the Switch?

Answer: Yes! The developers do plan to eventually bring Coral Island to the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation, and the Xbox.

Question: What is the most profitable crop on Coral Island?

Answer: Grapes are the most profitable crop, but only if turned into Wine. Wine has the highest selling price in the game, at 520 Coins.

Conclusion

There are a lot of crops on Coral Island, and many of them are worth growing, but only a few are a cut above the rest. Of course, you should grow other crops besides what qualified as the best in this article because if you don’t, you won’t be able to get through what parts of the story have been implemented.

I had a blast going through those parts of the story and eagerly look forward to what’s waiting. The developers may still be working on the game, but I’ll readily follow along, ready to consume each update like my life depends on it.

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