It Looks Like A Cherry But Makes Great Coffee

Oct. 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Kona Coffee is one of the most sought after and the most expensive coffees in the world and it can be found only in one place and that is on the island of Hawaii.  The coffee is cultivated on the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the North and South Kona Districts on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Only coffee that is cultivated from the Kona regions can be legally called 'Kona'.  Just imagine sitting in Hawaii rentals smelling the luxurious aroma of a Kona coffee before you take a sip of the rich

The Kona region has favourable growing conditions as there is an unusually weather pattern that happens.  In the mornings the sunshine brightly, whilst cloud and/or rain happens in the afternoons and in the night there is a gentle wind.  Add this combination to some of the most natural fertile volcanic soil and you get a great growing field

The coffee plant was brought by Samuel Reverend Ruggles in 1828.  It took a great part of the century for it to become a crop that grew consistently and bears decent results.  Large plantations were used to grow it but in 1899 there was a world coffee market crash which meant that many of the plantation owners had to lease their land to their workers.  Many of which were from Japan who originally came from sugar cane plantations.

Now the farms of Kona are not only run by families of Japanese origins but people from the Philippines, America and Europe.  Now there are over 800 Kona coffee farms with the average size being 5 acres.  The Kona coffee blooms in February and March; the plant gets covered by small white flowers which are called Kona snow.  In April green berries appear on the tree and by the time August reaches it has turned into a red fruit which they call cherry because it looks similar to a cherry fruit ripe for the picking.  Each tree when handpicked between August and January produces 20-30 pounds of cherry.

The cherries are put through a pulper within 24 hours of actually picking; the beans get separated from the pulp and then placed in a special fermentation tank overnight.  After fermentation the beans are washed and dried on a hoshidana or a drying rack.  It takes up to two weeks to dry the beans to a perfect moisture level of 10 -13%.  After they are stored in a parchment that is milled off the green bean prior to roasting or wholesale.

There are various types of seed types of Kona coffee beans.  The first Type (I) features two beans per cherry that are flat on one side and oval on the other while the other Type (II) which is called peaberry consists of one round bean.  The grades of each go as follow for Type I are Kona Extra fancy, Kona fancy, Kona Number 1, "Kona Select" ,and Kona Prime.  The grades for Type II are Peaberry Number 1 and Peaberry Prime.  There is a third lower grade that is made from Kona beans called Number 3 but it isn't labelled as 'Kona'.  You can only find Kona coffee the most authentic Kona coffee in Hawaii but it is shipped all over the world so one day why don't you give it a try.

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