Kona Coffee is Grown Only in Kona
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The Kona name only applies to coffee grown
within the crescent-shaped area known as the Kona growing region on the Big
Island of Hawai'i. Coffee that is grown elsewhere cannot be called Kona
coffee. The green area in this map is the Kona growing region. |
Pure Kona coffee comes from the slopes of the Mauna Loa and Hualalai
volcanoes. The ideal growing conditions and rich volcanic soil combine to
produce the best flavored coffee in the world. Because the Kona region has dry
winters and wet summers, the coffee has a chance to bloom and be pollinated
before the sub-tropical Hawaiian rains set in.
The first coffee plant in Kona was brought in by Samuel Ruggles in 1828 from
the ornamental gardens of the Hawaiian chiefs on Oahu.
Kona coffee berries turn bright red when they are ready to be picked. Only
the ripe berries are harvested with each round of picking, which means that the
same tree is picked as many as eight times in a season. This labor-intensive
process is the main reason Kona coffee costs so much to produce.
After picking, the coffee is pulped to remove the outer fruit-like skin and
fermented overnight to remove the sweet layer of sugar that surrounds the coffee
bean. The next step is drying, which traditionally is done in Kona on large
rain-protected decks. Coffee must be dried thoroughly before the next step in
processing, and this takes anywhere from one week to a month.
At this stage, the coffee bean is covered in a protective hard shell, and is
called parchment. Before roasting, the shell must be milled off the bean and
polished to remove the last protective layer called silver. This produces green
bean, which can be stored several years before roasting.
Each four pounds of coffee cherry picked from the tree yields one pound of
green bean. Each pound of green bean results in 0.8 pounds of roasted coffee.
Green bean is graded by size and defect rate to yield several different
grades of coffee. These are Kona Extra Fancy (the biggest beans,) Kona Fancy,
Kona Number 1, Kona Prime, Kona Peaberry Number One and Kona Peaberry Prime.
Beans that do not meet the minimum quality standards set by the USDA cannot be
exported or sold as Kona coffee.
We roast Sunday and Tuesday and ship every Monday and Wednesday; it doesn't get any fresher than this.
Try our Kona coffee today!
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