Coffee seeds have slow and asynchronic germination, which increases the time needed to obtain seedlings, and the expenses associated. A pregerminative treatment (PT) was defined which decreases the germination time in seeds of Coffea arabica L. var. Colombia and Coffea canephora P. var. Robusta. Five pregerminative treatments in water were applied to seeds without endocarp: T1) immersion for 24 hours; T2) scraping plus immersion for 24 hours; T3) immersion for one hour at 40 °C; T4) immersion for 48 hours; and T5) scraping plus immersion for 48 hours. Subsequently, they were sown in two substrates (sand and peat-moss). The treatments had three replicates with 25 seeds as experimental unit, organized into a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement. The variables evaluated were: days to start of germination (DIG), speed of emergence (VE), and percentage of emergence (PE). In Coffea arabica, the PT that decreased the germination period was T1, obtaining seedlings at 22 days, with greater vigor with a VE of 0.55 emerged seedlings per day, and increased PE to 59, 92, and 97% on days 30, 40, and 50, respectively. In Coffea canephora, T1 presented 0.40 VE and PE of 42% at 30 days and 73% at 50 days, while T2 increased PE at 40 and 50 days by 70 and 81%, respectively. The best substrate was sand, which decreased the germination period of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora to 26 and 23 days, increased VE to 0.53 and 0.35 emerged seedlings per day, respectively, and had PE of more than 70% after 50 days in both species.