Coffee

Hawaiian Kona coffee is the famous Hawaiian coffee that comes only from Kona, a district on the west coast of the Big Island in Hawaii, and has been popular for its high-quality coffee since the early 1800′s. This delicious beverage is produced on the extremely fertile slopes of an extinct volcano.

Coffee was first brought to Kona by Reverend Samuel Ruggles from Brazil in 1825. Kona beans are grown on large estates. But due to the sudden worldwide crisis in the coffee market in 1899, plantation owners had to lease out the land to their workers. These workers, who were originally Japanese, worked the leased land as their family business, growing the highest grade gourmet beans.

Today Kona has about 600 independent farms, most of which are small, 3 to 7 acres in size. Most of these farms are a family run business whose special beans are nurtured with the greatest care and concern for quality..

What experts say about Hawaiian Kona Coffee?

This java of champions is produced based on the special growing environment and growing techniques that make this product deliciously rich, and very different from other kinds of coffee. A regular coffee drinker or coffee connoisseur can really appreciate the exquisite aromatic scent of a freshly brewed Kona coffee, and indulge in the flavor of the richest full-bodied coffee the world has to offer.

This special coffee is produced with many variations to appeal and satisfy a wide range of tastes and desires. It is also produced as blended flavors like the all time favorite; Chocolate Macadamia Nut and is truly a special flavor for Christmas holidays or gift-giving. There is even decaf, and the newly available instant freeze-dried Kona coffee.

When buying high grade Kona beans, it is important to know how to store your beans properly to preserve its special taste and high quality as long as possible. Coffee connoisseurs recommend keeping their precious sipping treat either in an air tight ceramic container or a glass container that is away from direct light. Remember that the natural enemy of the beans are light, air and dampness.

Attention: Never store your beans in plastic containers. Otherwise, as a result, you may get tasteless coffee without any aroma, as the product usually absorbs the taste of the plastic.

Why drink Hawaiian Kona coffee?

If you are looking for a first-class coffee, try 100% Hawaiian Kona that is so different from the common and ordinary Colombian produced commercial brands. These beans produce a superior coffee to any store bought brands, and so are popular among worldwide coffee-drinking societies.

Why is this coffee considered # 1 all over the world?

o Coffee experts consider Kona beans as the number 1 in the world. Why? – Because they create a beverage that is medium-bodied, slightly acidic, but the best of all, deliciously rich, coming with a heady aroma. If you enjoy the flavor of coffee, there is nothing as rich and flavorful as a fresh, hot cup of Hawaiian Kona coffee.

o If you are a coffee lover, you probably know that only a very small amount of coffee in the world is pesticide free. And Kona coffee is also one of them. You and your family can consume this coffee without any concern about consuming pesticide spray residues.

As a connoisseur’s coffee, these gourmet beans now available online for your shopping convenience, and very affordable, if you know where to look.

Add more zest and pleasure to your daily coffee experience with these special beans loved by all over the world. And your friends and neighbors will love you for sharing it. Or surprise that special someone with this unique coffee as a gift they’ll always remember.

My highest recommendation to buy Hawaiian Kona Coffee online is Hawaii Gourmet Shopping owned and operated by Lanawiliama, Inc., a state licensed Hawaii-based reseller. Go now and check this out- Hawaiian Kona Coffee

Author: Will Campbell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital economy, mobile technology

A 2008 glance at Kona coffee retail prices shows options from $7 to 45 per pound. Contrary to the headline this actually sounds like a rather wide range where every market segment should be able to get their respective luxury-gourmet-coffee experience.

Yet if one subtracts all the products coat-tailing on the Kona name (e.g. ‘Kona Blend, ‘Kona Style’, ‘Kona Roast’) the range is getting much narrower. Nothing below $ 19.99 per pound, which appears somewhat genuine is to be found. If any other specifics like ‘Organic’ or ‘Extra Fancy’ are being added the prices are going quickly towards the $30 mark and above. Yet in supermarkets one can get for five bucks a wide variety of ordinary coffees and sale signs galore in the respective aisles. So who is getting rich here? And where is the discount stuff?

Let’s take a closer look of what Kona coffee actually is. The fabled Kona coffee belt stretches for 20 miles with only 2 miles width through the districts of North and South Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA. Ideal coffee growing conditions produce a very unique, highly aromatic, mellow, yet limited annual crop of the fabled ‘kona typica’ beans. Mostly small family farms line the two roads winding along the fertile slopes of the active volcanoes Hualalai and Mauna Kea. The verdant green scenery with the blue hues of the Pacific below is occasionally interrupted by the signs of coffee processors trying to entice the local farmers to sell them their freshly picked coffee cherries: ‘$1.60 CASH!’ or ‘WEEKLY: $1.55′ or ‘BUYING CHERRY-Always Highest Prices!’. (1 lb roasted coffee needs a 7.4 lbs of coffee cherry). Also, once the harvest comes to an end, ‘BUYING PARCHMENT’ banners will flap in the gentle ocean breeze. What’s called ‘parchment’ is the now pulped and dried coffee, still in a thin membrane covering the green bean, which will fetch a price in the range of $7.50 – $8.50 per pound.

And that’s the key to understanding the 100% Kona coffee’s economics: Every local Kona coffee farmer has the chance to sell their crop! No additional work as pulping, drying, storing, milling, sorting, roasting, packaging, labeling, marketing goes into it. Many choose to do so, as labor costs in Hawaii are at a premium and housing for low wage workers is nearly impossible to find on the island. The actual Kona Coffee Belt land is too steep and rocky to navigate with machinery and hard human labor is needed to plant, grow and harvest.

Most farm parcels are only of 3 – 5 acres average size and are capable of producing 20 – 40,000 pound of coffee cherry. Once picking costs are subtracted (50 cent per pound) the annual monies earned can be considered only an additional income. So farmers have their unpaid families and friends pitching in during picking season and then the numbers look somewhat better. Yet so far no one got rich farming Kona coffee – it still is a labor of passion similar to an old fashioned vintners’ backbreaking daily chores. And passion it is when a few of these traditional family farmers in the age of the internet are able to bring their product direct to the customers: No middlemen, no processors, no pooling of various farms, no store chains or roasters between the consumer and them. Even that for the farmers to process, package, ship, advertise, et al raises will their profits only marginal, it guarantees them independence. It’s added value for both parties, as customers know exactly where the beans come from and the farmer is able to care and quality-control the coffee from seed to cup.

The main factors driving the price of genuine Kona coffee are therefore: Kona as a limited growing region for a superb tasting product requiring intense hand labor, coupled with a steadfast national and international consumer demand that guarantees virtually no surpluses or discounted volumes of Kona coffee to be moved.

But with many folks never having experienced what a real handcrafted Kona coffee tastes like, the profit margin between the ‘commodity’ coffees and the rare 100% Kona coffee is too tempting for many roasters. The growing market of single origin, single estate coffees – as a Kona coffee should be labeled – is flooded with impostor coffee brands. So please do your research and don’t always believe what’s written on the bag when buying Kona coffee. Especially when the deal sounds too good to be true or it tastes like generic coffee, it is most likely that those beans haven’t seen Hawaii at all.

See many pictures and read more of how a small farm produces delicious, affordable 100% Kona coffee: http://www.bluehorsekona.com/ (low end pricing)

Life seen through the eyes of a little Hawaiian girl growing up on a genuine small coffee farm in Kona: http://www.athenaofhawaii.com/ (moderate pricing; celebrity clientele; presented in handcrafted wooden gift boxes and unique tapa cloth pouches)

Author: Joaquin Delanuit
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital Camera News

Whenever I have a friend traveling to Hawaii I insist they bring me back a bag of the famous Kona Peaberry Coffee. Kona coffee is known for its smooth and mellow yet full-bodied flavor, a very deep and rich bean producing a very aromatic cup of coffee. Kona’s elevated location is perfect for growing the best beans. Its climate of sunny mornings, cloudy or rainy afternoons combine to make a superior coffee bean.

Kona coffee can only be called that if it is grown within the district of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is grown in a small area only one mile wide by 30 miles long. Coffee grown in any other area of the islands can only be called “Hawaiian.” Even coffee grown in Kona is called “Hawaiian” if it falls below the “Prime” grade.

Kona Peaberry coffee is classified as “Extra Fancy” and costs more not only because you are getting a bigger and denser bean, but because you are also getting a rarer bean and only accounts for approximately 5% of the coffee bean crop. Peaberry is a “freak of nature” so to speak, and occurs when the coffee cherry yields only one bean instead of two. The Peaberry bean is shaped like a football; it is not flat on one side and round on the other, like a regular coffee bean. It also has a lower acid content than regular beans. Some believe that the cylindrical shape causes this bean to roast differently than a regular bean giving it a much different taste.

It has been said that coffee prepared in a French Press coffee pot is the best way to taste the actual flavor of the coffee bean. If you have Kona Peaberry coffee beans what better way to thoroughly enjoy their bold yet smooth flavor. When coffee is prepared in a French Press coffee pot it produces a concentrated yet very smooth and rich tasting coffee. You can imagine how the combination of Kona Peaberry coffee, which is already great tasting, and brewing it in the French Press coffee pot would kick it up a notch and make a more intense flavored cup of coffee. One sip of this rare coffee will spoil you for any other.

When purchasing a package of Kona Peaberry Coffee inspect the ingredient label carefully. It can only be called that if it is 100% Kona Peaberry Coffee. It may say that it is a “Kona” blend. That could mean that it is part Hawaiian coffee, possibly grown in other areas, and a small part Kona Peaberry Coffee. If you are comparing prices you may think you are getting a high grade coffee by purchasing one called “Estate.” “Estate” is not a grade of Kona coffee. The Kona coffee council defines “Estate” as “the product of one farm, unmixed with crops from other farms and processed through to roast under the control of that farm.” Processing companies buy coffee in cherry form (right off the tree) from many farms in Hawaii. They combine these all the way through to roasting and market it under their own label.

It is well worth the extra cost to buy pure Kona Peaberry Coffee. You will not be disappointed.

Find the latest information on coffee visit French Press Coffee as well as Kona Peaberry Coffee

Author: Mary Swanson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Tissot virtual reality

Kona coffee comes from the famous Kona Coffee region, located on the Big Island of Hawaii. Many of them are small family farms. From August till December the farmers focus on picking and processing the ripe red coffee cherries. The steep, rocky terrain of most plantations does not lend itself well to mechanical cultivation or harvesting, so most of the work must be done by hand. The remainder of the year is spent pruning trees, planting new ones, spreading compost, maintaining the processing mill and home. Family owned plantations produce the finest coffees, because folks watch and maintain the whole cycle from the soil to the bean. Of course, processors, coffee brokers, shippers, handlers, dock- and storage managers, roasters, stores e.g. are in between you and the farms. By going through so many hands most coffees are running chances to be mishandled and results in being simply less fresh! So when ordering Kona coffee from a website, make sure you find a farm, can communicate with the owners and cut out the middlemen: The result will most likely be cheaper, fresher, tastier.

Kona coffee maintains individual subtleties; much better tasting than pooled, generically sold cheaper alternatives. The Kona region is comparable to the Champagne region in France, which produces the only legitimately named ‘Champagne’ product. And like Champagne, 100% Kona coffee is distinguished from other coffees not only by region and the ideal growing conditions, but also by the enormous amount of care taken throughout each step of the farming, harvesting and roasting processes. Whether it’s from the individual pruning of the trees, handpicking, carefully sun-drying on large open decks and roasting prior to packaging the coffee to ensure freshness–you can be assured that small estate Kona coffee is comparable to no other.

What’s in your cup? Most likely machine picked coffee, chockfull of pesticides and herbicides from South America, which is todays norm. Millions of tons circulate as ‘commodity’ on the Future markets at all times. During harvest combines with huge bristles sweep the trees of old cherries, green cherries, and some ripe red cherries. Twigs, insects, dirt all end up in the pulper. This generic coffee is stored and shipped for many months before it ends up in your cup. As every coffee company wants to have a high profit margin, the cheaper the green coffee is being bought, and the higher they can sell the roasted beans, the better they do for their shareholders. That’s where so called ‘Fair Trade’ coffees come in, because the first thing which is lowered is the money the actual farmers and pickers earn. Other tricks of the trade during processing and packaging: Flavor it with hazelnut or vanilla! Roast it very dark! Flavor it with, yes, COFFEE aroma extracts itself! Pump coffee aroma in the bag so that when the bag is opened the first time, the cheapo stuff will actually smell like coffee! Produce a sugary & milky coffee drink!

Back in Kona century-old coffee trees are still being handpicked to obtain the best flavor, assuring that only the reddest, ripest and finest cherries make it into your cup. This naturally shade grown coffee grows in nutrient rich soil, which reduces acidity and produces dense and more flavorful beans. During the course of any given Kona day the land is gently heated by the sun, which draws moist breezes up the slopes to create what’s called vector clouds. These clouds not only make shade trees obsolete, but they prompt drizzly convection rains throughout the afternoon. Therefore only in Hawaii coffee is grown at lower altitudes and naturally irrigated. In the rainy season around 20,000 gallons of rain are poured onto each acre of farm land. But moments after these periodic rains disappear, one may witness the sun once again pushing its way through at the coast below, creating magnificent rainbows and the most breathtaking Hawaiian sunsets. In the pulping process, the harvested red cherries are to ferment overnight in the freshest and purest Pacific rainwater. This labor-intense ‘wet method’ is the preferred way of processing high grown arabicas. Their skins and pulp are soaked, and then removed from the beans, which are later washed and spread out to dry on a wooden deck. The moist beans are hand distributed upon the drying floor and are raked many times throughout the day so that the drying happens uniformly. Kona’s warm sun and gentle breezes dry the beans to the perfect moisture level. Generic coffees utilize a mechanical drying method, which forces hot air over the beans to speed up the drying process. This method proves less labor intensive, therefore lowering the price. However, one can actually taste the difference between sun and kiln-dried beans. Sun-dried coffee maintains more of a delicate, mellow flavor–whereas kiln-dried coffee will oftentimes lose some of the aromas Kona coffee is famous for. Many farms package and ship their Kona coffee immediately after roasting to preserve its freshness. The essential flavored oils of coffee are delicate and fade quickly when coming in contact with oxygen.

But be aware: 100% KONA coffee is hard to come by on the mainland, which is why many coffee consumers are easily duped. But once you’ve tasted 100% pure Kona coffee, you’ll know the difference! Many roasters and companies mislead customers by using only 10% Kona beans and mixing them with 90% lower-quality and heavily fumigated Central or South American beans. This combination produces an atypical, cheaper taste, but is commonly referred to as “KONA BLEND”. The name, however, leads consumers to believe that the bag of coffee they’ve purchased contains ‘blends’ of various Kona coffee farms, whereas it actually means that the entire bag contains as little as three to four actual Kona beans! The law of Hawai’i stipulates that a bag of pure Kona coffee must have printed on its label the words 100% KONA to guarantee its contents. That’s why most small estate, shade grown and handpicked coffee can compete successfully against the ultra-productive, low-waged labor, machine-picked, and often artificially ‘coffee’-flavor enhanced, coffees.

http://www.bluehorsekona.com/
http://www.athenaofhawaii.com

Author: Keoni Lassiter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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