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All Kona coffees are not alike. Saying that all Kona coffees are the same is like saying all wine from Napa is the same. Napa red wines sell from the winery from $4 a bottle to $900 a bottle. There are bad, average, good, and extraordinary wines in Napa. The same holds true for Kona coffee.
Coffee beans, like grapes, take on the “goût de terroir,” or taste of the land. Kona Coffee taste is affected by the elevation, soil, orientation to the sun, drainage, pruning, watering and fertilizing. Farms next door to each other often produce coffees which are dramatically different in quality and flavor.
Even if the trees produce outstanding coffee beans, the taste can be ruined by poor processing. Premium coffee beans have to be pulped, fermented, washed, dried, hulled, graded, sorted and stored perfectly to create an outstanding cup of coffee. If you want the best Kona Coffee you should buy from a farmer you can trust, someone who has the knowledge and patience to answer questions, who displays passion for his beans and is willing to put the time, effort and money into creating a great cup of coffee.
Buy Kona Coffee from the Actual Grower
Coffee typically passes through three or four different companies before getting to the consumer. Each distributor moves and stores the coffee. If they don’t do it right, the beans lose flavor. If you buy direct, you reduce the chance of poor shipping and storage. The only person who can honestly vouch for the purity and quality of the coffee is the person who grew it.
Buy Fresh Coffee Beans
Ask when the coffee beans were grown. Most coffee is brewed from beans that were grown years before. Even if the coffee is “fresh roasted” the beans may still be old. Fresh roasted old coffee is still old coffee. Gourmet Kona Coffee is brewed from this year’s crop. You don’t drink wine made from old grapes and you shouldn’t drink coffee made from old coffee beans.
Buy Kona Coffee Beans from Someone who is Passionate
Growing coffee is like growing wine grapes. Great wines come from vineyards where the workers are passionate about the wine. Great coffee comes from plantations where the grower is passionate about quality. Farmers who care about their coffee are excited and interested. Farmers and distributors who are out to make a buck don’t want to waste their time. Talk to the grower – expect their coffee to reflect their passion.
Knowing how to bring up this discussion took me three tries – click on the picture (not obvious to me).
The discussion is very clear and informative, though I still don’t know where to insert a thermometer in my coffee maker to check the temperature of the water.
The discussion also has to make the point that HulaDaddy meets all the criteria of good coffee soil, planting, nurturinf, picking, processing and timely shipping. The message is implied; but the question remains, “Why HulaDaddy” and not a dozen or more other Hawaiian producers’ coffee. What truly make HuaDaddy distictly and most favorably different?
We have been on your grounds (no pun intended), had a remarkably detailed and informative tour and ordered and enjoyed your coffee for a year. We know your product is good – others need to know why. (Only the increase in price keeps us away at this point.)