For nearly a century Kona coffee farmers have been processing the precious Kona coffee beans without any regard to the fleshy fruit around the bean which is normally discarded. Now KonaRed^TM Coffee Fruit is packaging the fruit itself which they claim is an antioxidant-rich “super food.”

Antioxidants are said to combat free radical damage which is a primary cause of aging and disease. The antioxidants also help build a stronger immune system and give you more energy.

The coffee pulp for Kona Red is supplied by, among others, Greenwell Farms, a certified organic Kona coffee farm in Kealakekua and produced by Sandwich Isles Trading Company which is a joint venture between Malie, Inc. on Kauai and Bioponic Phytoceuticals on Maui.

About fifteen pounds of Kona coffee cherry are required to make about one pound of extract that is mixed with other ingredients including Maui sugar and cinnamon hydrosol extract. The final product is also high in polyphenols that are known for their ability to neutralize free radicals.

Four varieties of Kona Red are produced including a whole powder, a freeze-dried powder, a mesh powder and a liquid concentrate. An anti-aging skincare product using Kona coffee cherry is also being marketed by Maile Organics.

Kona Coffee farming in the 1890s is relived the H.N. Greenwell Store Museum in Kalukalu in Kona Coffee Country.

The “Living History Program” features costumed interpreters who greet and interact with guest of the museum which is also a State and National Historic site. The museum also features interpretive panels that help educate visitors.

The Greenwell Store was founded more than a century ago by Henry and Elizabeth Greenwell. Back in those days the store sold woolen long johns, rice, saddles, rope for tethering horses, and of course Kona coffee. The store was also a gathering place where local farmers and ranchers shared news of the day.

A visit to the Greenwell Store and the nearby Living History farm takes you back in time to the era of Kona’s coffee pioneers. The store is open from Monday to Thursday from 10 to 2. No reservations are required.

The Greenwell Store is Kona’s oldest store and the building is one of the district’s oldest buildings. The historic structure was recently restored.

Though most of Hawaii’s premium gourmet coffee comes from Kona, there is also an increasing amount of specialty Hawaii coffee being grown in other districts of the Big Island including Kau in the south of the island, Hamakua in the northeast, and Puna in the southeast.

The Kona region now has nearly 800 coffee farms with a handful of coffee farms on the rest of the island. On the other Hawaiian Island there are also some scattered small coffee farms as well as a large plantation on Molokai and another on Kauai.

In the state of Hawaii overall there are nearly 8,000 acre of coffee growing, and the average yield per acre is about 1,400 pounds of coffee. The state of Hawaii produces about 9 million pounds of coffee annually.

For a comprehensive list of Kona Coffee Farms see Kona Coffee Farms, Tours, and Coffeehouses.

Ideally a fine coffee bean won’t need excessive roasting and this will allow the coffee consumer to enjoy the bean’s origin flavors that reflect the climate of the growing region and the particular traits of the coffee bean including its genetics (e.g., Kona Typica, a variety of Arabica).

Darker roasts can mask many of these origin flavors, though in some cases a dark roast is appropriate because it brings out other flavors in the beans.

When coffee beans are roasted they grow in size as they lose moisture and begin to develop soluble oils. Darker roasts are created by using a higher roast temperature for a longer roasting time. Lighter roasts may be roasted just until the “first crack” when the beans crack or pop for the first time. In general, a lighter roast has a higher acidity than a darker roast, which will tend to have a fuller body and be sweeter.

A Full Roast, or Italian Espresso Roast is roasted until the “second crack” when the beans become a bit shiny and oily on the surface. The roast flavor is apparent and there may be spicy or chocolaty flavors.

A Dark Roast is roasted beyond the second crack until the sugars begin to carbonize creating smoky-sweet flavors.

The best roast for a particular coffee bean is best determined by taking into account the various factors including the type of bean, moisture content, how the beans have been stored, the age of the beans, bean quality, and other factors. Skilled roastmasters listen carefully to the beans as they are roasting to help determine the proper length of roasting time.

Most Kona coffee is only given a light or medium roast because the bean is naturally smooth and not overly acidic to begin with. About eight pounds of Kona coffee cherry (fruit) will roast to about one pound of roasted coffee due to the dissipation of moisture in the coffee beans.

If you are interested in roasting your own Kona coffee beans check out the Homeroasters Association.

1) The cost of the special pod brewing machine or K-Cup machine will be recovered over time as you brew coffee more efficiently with less waste.

2) K-Cups seal in the freshness of the coffee in the small plastic cup that is brewed in a special K-Cup brewing machine.

3) Both pods and K-Cups can be purchased in gourmet coffees resulting in a quick yet top quality cup of coffee.

4) Both pods and K-Cups can be brewed very quickly, in just one minute! That saves you lots of time.

5) Many different companies sell both K-Cups and coffee pods, giving you lots of coffee choices.

6) Lots of companies sell K-Cup machines as well as coffee pod brewers so you have lots of different machines to choose from.

7) The coffee pods are pre-packaged coffee in single-serve filters, and the individual packaging seals in the freshness until you are ready to brew the coffee.

Both brewing and clean-up are easier, and the price is more economical.

9) You may also start enjoying fresher coffee than you are used to.

10) These new brewing methods are both efficient and modern, and while they are not for everyone, it is worth trying K-Cups and coffee pods to see if they are for you.

More than 4,000 coffee trees grow on Lehuula Farm. Some of these coffee trees are more than 90 years old, and many of the trees grow in the shade of the farm’s macadamia nut trees. Lehuula Kona coffee farm takes pride in their unique coffee tree pruning methods which produces a higher quality coffee bean.

All coffee sold by Lehuula Kona coffee farm carries the Kona Coffee Council seal which guarantees that it is 100% Kona coffee. All coffee sales at Lehuula are fresh roasted to order.

Lehuula Farms coffee has earned recognition for its high quality including being a finalist in the 2008 Kona Coffee Cupping Competition. Please call ahead to make a reservation for a personal farm tour.

Langenstein hand picks all of their coffee cherry (fruit) which is then pulped at the farm’s wet mill. Next the coffee is fermented for a time that may range from 12 to 24 hours. During this fermentation period the coffee cherry are soaked in water that is changed repeatedly until it becomes very clear.

After fermentation the Kona coffee is dried in the sun. Drying may take one week to ten days, and during this time the coffee beans are repeatedly raked to ensure even drying.

After drying the Kona coffee is placed into burlap bags and the stored for at least two months. After this aging period the coffee is taken to the dry mill where the outer skin is removed. After milling the coffee is roasted in a Fluid Bed Roaster which uses hot air and ensures a very even roast.

The result of all of this meticulous care by Langenstein Farms is that the coffee is smooth and flavorful, exhibiting the fine qualities one would expect of 100% gourmet Kona coffee. The region’s soil, climate, and unique coffee heritage ensures that premium Kona coffee will remain as one of the world’s top gourmet coffees.

To read about more Kona Coffee Farms see Kona Coffee Farms, Tours, and Coffeehouses.

Famous Author Mark Twain Was Very Impressed By Fine-Tasting Kona Coffee

Mark Twain published a story in the Sacramento Daily Union on August 18, 1866 detailing his journey to the Big Island of Hawaii the previous year when he had penned some of his “Letters from Hawaii,” a book that is still widely read.

Twain noted that he was, “Bound for Hawaii, to visit the great volcano and behold the other notable things which distinguish this island above the remainder of the group . . . we sailed from Honolulu on a certain Saturday afternoon, in the good schooner Boomerang.”

As he came upon the Big Island, also called Hawaii Island, Twain noted, “we were close to the island of Hawaii. Two of its high mountains were in view - Mauna Loa and Hualalai. The latter is an imposing peak, but being only ten thousand feet high is seldom mentioned or heard of. Mauna Loa is fourteen thousand feet high. The rays of glittering snow and ice, that clasped its summit like a claw, looked refreshing when viewed from the blistering climate we were in.”

About Mauna Loa Volcano Twain noted that a person “could look down the long sweep of its sides and see spots where plants are growing that grow only where the bitter cold of Winter prevails; lower down he could see sections devoted to productions that thrive in the temperate zone alone; and at the bottom of the mountain he could see the home of the tufted cocoa palms and other species of vegetation that grow only in the sultry atmosphere of eternal Summers. He could see all the climes of the world at a single glance of the eye, and that glance would only pass over a distance of eight or ten miles as the bird flies.”

Once Mark Twain came ashore he visited the town of Kailua and described its environment as a “Refuge for the Weary.”

Twain states, “We landed at Kailua, a little collection of native grass houses reposing under tall cocoanut trees - the sleepiest, quietest, Sundayest looking place you can imagine. Ye weary ones that are sick of the labor and care, and the bewildering turmoil of the great world, and sigh for a land where ye may fold your tired hands and slumber your lives peacefully away, pack up your carpet sacks and go to Kailua! A week there ought to cure the saddest of you all.”

Twain described the area where King Kamehameha I had lived near the sea in Kailua, “An old ruin of lava-block walls down by the sea was pointed out as a fort built by John Adams for Kamehameha I, and mounted with heavy guns - some of them 32-pounders - by the same sagacious Englishman. I was told that the fort was dismantled a few years ago, and the guns sold in San Francisco for old iron - which was very improbable. I was told that an adjacent ruin was old Kamehameha’s sleeping-house; another, his eating-house; another, his god’s house; another, his wife’s eating-house - for by the ancient tabu system, it was death for man and woman to eat together. Every married man’s premises comprised five or six houses. This was the law of the land. I was told, also, that Kailua was old Kamehameha’s favorite place of residence, and that it was always a favorite place of resort with his successors.”

Mark Twain then began his journey to see the island, and was impressed with the Kona coffee region. In a section of his writings titled, “The Famous Orange and Coffee Region.” Twain states, “It was only about fifteen miles from Kailua to Kealakekua Bay, either by sea or land . . . We hired horses from the Kanakas . . . I will mention, in this place, that horses are plenty everywhere in the Sandwich Islands - no Kanaka is without one or more - but when you travel from one island to another, it is necessary to take your own saddle and bridle . . . The ride through the district of Kona to Kealakekua Bay took us through the famous coffee and orange section. I think the Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other, be it grown where it may and call it by what name you please.”

Twain recounted the troubles that Kona’s coffee industry had been experiencing, “At one time it was cultivated quite extensively, and promised to become one of the great staples of Hawaiian commerce; but the heaviest crop ever raised was almost entirely destroyed by a blight, and this, together with heavy American customs duties, had the effect of suddenly checking enterprise in this direction.”

Twain continued to recount the recent plight of Kona coffee, “For several years the coffee growers fought the blight with all manner of cures and preventives, but with small success, and at length some of the less persevering abandoned coffee-growing altogether and turned their attention to more encouraging pursuits.”

Twain also noted that the coffee industry in Kona, while it had suffered some misfortunes, was showing signs of progress. “The coffee interest has not yet recovered its former importance, but is improving slowly. The exportation of this article last year was over 268,000 pounds, and it is expected that the present year’s yield will be much greater.”

At the time that Mark Twain visited the Big Island the sugarcane industry was well underway, and had begun to dominate all other agricultural pursuits. Twain went on to compare Hawaii’s coffee farming and sugarcane industries: “Contrast the progress of the coffee interest with that of sugar, and the demoralizing effects of the blight upon the former will be more readily seen.”

Twain noted that while 117,000 pounds of coffee and 730,000 pounds of sugar had been exported from Hawaii in 1852, by 1865 the coffee exports had risen only to 263,000 pounds (a little more than doubling) while sugarcane had increased to more than 15 million pounds, more than twenty times its previous volume.

Continuing on his journey, Twain described what he saw, “The coffee plantations we encountered in our short journey looked well, and we were told that the crop was unusually promising.”

Twain also commented on the fine citrus trees growing in the Kona region, “There are no finer oranges in the world than those produced in the district of Kona; when new and fresh they are delicious. The principal market for them is California, but of course they lose much of their excellence by so long a voyage. About 500,000 oranges were exported last year against 15,000 in 1852. The orange culture is safe and sure, and is being more and more extensively engaged in every year. We passed one orchard that contained ten thousand orange trees.”

Twain also noticed many other types of trees also, including “the varied and handsome foliage of the Kou, Koa, Kukui, breadfruit, mango, guava, peach, citron, ohia and other fine trees,” but it was the rich, green color and high quality of the orange trees that compelled “constant exclamations of admiration.”

As he progressed toward Kealakekua Bay on horseback at about 1,000 feet above sea level, Twain noted that “you find yourself buried in the forest in the midst of a rank, tropical vegetation and a dense growth of trees, whose great boughs overarch the road and shut out sun and sea and everything, and leave you in a dim, shady tunnel, haunted with invisible singing birds and fragrant with the odor of flowers. It was pleasant to ride occasionally in the warm sun, and feast the eye upon the ever-changing panorama of the forest (beyond and below us), with its many tints, its softened lights and shadows, its billowy undulations sweeping gently down from the mountain to the sea. It was pleas ant also, at intervals, to leave the sultry sun and pass into the cool, green depths of this forest and indulge in sentimental reflections under the inspiration of its brooding twilight and its whispering foliage. The jaunt through Kona will always be to me a happy memory.”

Many years later Mark Twain recalled his Hawaiian Islands visit, commenting that, “For me its balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surf is in my ear; I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore, its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud-rack; I can feel the spirit of its woody solitudes, I hear the splashing of the brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago.”

So when you are sipping some premium gourmet Kona coffee you can reflect a bit on its rich history. This very same coffee was enjoyed by the likes of Mark Twain more than a century and a half ago.

To read about Kona Coffee Farms see Kona Coffee Farms, Tours, and Coffeehouses. ]]> http://www.konacoffeeroasting.com/kona-coffee-has-a-richer-flavor-said-mark-twain-during-his-1866-visit-to-kona-coffee-country/feed/ http://www.konacoffeeroasting.com/100-kona-coffee-served-at-aloha-angel-cafe-in-kona-coffee-country/ http://www.konacoffeeroasting.com/100-kona-coffee-served-at-aloha-angel-cafe-in-kona-coffee-country/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 18:50:11 +0000 dan http://www.konacoffeeroasting.com/?p=942 Aloha Angel Cafe is located in Kona Coffee Country in historic Kainaliu Town on the seaward (makai) side of Highway 11 just south of Keauhou (79-7384 Mamalahoa Highway). They serve a sumptuous breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, and many people like to stop here for rejuvenation on their way to Kilauea Volcano, enjoying a nice, fresh cup of the region’s finest gourmet Kona coffee.

The many health food and vegetarian choices at Alona Angel Cafe also appeal to those who are conscious about their health. The Cafe is located in a historic old building called the Aloha Theatre Building. This very popular gathering place began feeding hungry theater patrons in 1932 and then in the 1970s became a fully established restaurant.

Aloha Angel Cafe purchases local products from Kona farmers and fishermen providing fresh fare for all who come to enjoy the great ambiance that includes seating on the lanai (porch) overlooking the water.

Pau Hana Estate coffee has earned recognition numerous times in the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition including a first place finish in 2001.

Pau Hana is a family owned and operated Kona coffee farm located at an elevation of 2,400 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano. Please call in advance to schedule an appointment for a Kona coffee farm tour.

Pau Hana Estate sells green (unroasted) coffee beans, bulk green coffee beans, and roasted, certified organic whole bean Kona coffee. Pau Hana Estate is also a member of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association.