Hawaiian Coffee
Hawaiian coffee can provide one with the sense of laying back on a relaxing beach, watching the sunrise over a beautiful ocean landscape. Kona coffee, the name given to a variety of coffee beans which are raised on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mount Hualalai in the North and South Kona districts of Hawaii, is some of the most exquisite and expensive coffee in the world. Raised in terrific growing conditions, with sunny mornings, rainy afternoons, and calm nights, Kona coffee can be considered to be some of the most supreme blends of coffee in the world.
Kona coffee beans grow on trees which begin to bloom in February and March. Starting in April, green berries begin to grow on the trees and by late August, these berries have become red fruit which are known as “cherries.” Once these cherries have been picked, within 24 hours they will be put through a pulper and the coffee bean located within the fruit is removed from the pulp. The beans will be fermented overnight, at a length determined at their elevation. After this fermentation, the beans will be dried before being ground up to make coffee. It takes seven to nine pounds of the beans to make one pound of ground Kona coffee.
Due to the relatively small harvest of the Kona beans, much of the coffee sold is actually a Kona blend, mixing the expensive Kona type of coffee with another cheaper coffee, traditionally from Columbia or Brazil. Pure Kona coffee is a luxury to many, seeing as there are only about 600 Kona coffee farms in the world, with the average size of a farm being less than 5 acres. This results in the pricing of pure Kona coffee as well as the reputation it has of being incredibly high-end.
