Kona is the market name for a variety of coffee that is cultivated on the slopes of Mount Hualalai and Mauna Loa which is in the North and South districs of Kona, on the large island of Hawaii. Kona Hawaii coffee beans has developed a reputation making it one of the most sought-after coffees in the world. Only the coffee beans from the Districts of Kona can legally be described as “Kona”. The weather patterns in Kona, such as bright and sunny mornings, humid rainy afternoons and mild nights make great growning conditions for the coffee beans.
The coffee plant was first brought to Kona in the 19th Century by Samuel Reverend Ruggels from Brazil, although it wasn’t until much later on in the century that it became a consistent and worthwhile crop. The coffee beans were grown on large plantations, but the crash in the world coffee market in 1899 caused a lot of plantation owners to lease out their land to their workers. Most of the workers were originally from Japan and were brought in to tend and harvest sugar cane. They worked their land parcels of between 5 and 12 acres as family concerns, producing large, quality coffee crops.
Running family farms has been continued as tradition in Kona. The Japanes orgin families have now been joined by Filipinos, mainland Americans and even the Europeans. There are approx 600 Kona coffee farms with an average size of 5 acres. In 1997 the total Kona coffee area was 2,290 acres and green coffee bean production just over £2M.
The coffee blooms start to come out around February and March, which are small white flowers that cover the tree and are know as “Kona Snow”. Around April the green berries begin to appear and by late August red fruit called “cherry”, because of the resemblance of the ripe berry to a cherry fruit, start to ripen for picking. Each of the trees will be hand-picked several times between August and January and they will provided around 20-30 pounds of cherries.
Within 24 hours the cherries will be run through a pulper and this will separate the beans from the pulp, they are then placed in a fermentation tank overnight. Fermentation time depends on the temperature and therefore on the elevtion; about 12 hours at low elevation or 24 at high elevation. The coffee beans are then rinsed and placed on a drying rack. It takes 7-14 days to dry the coffee beans to optimal moisture level of between 10-13%. From here the beans are stored as parchment, this is milled off the green coffee beans prior to roasting. It takes 7-9 pounds of cherries to make 1 pound of roasted coffee, so 100 pounds of cherries will yield about 12 pounds of roasted coffee.
Kona coffee is such a rarity that some retailers sell so called ‘Kona Blends’, which usually consitit of Kona and Colombian, Brazilian or other foreign coffee beans.