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
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