Although most people do not associate with Hawaii companies to coffee, is the only EU country that has the climate and soil where the coffee plant can thrive. Rich, slightly acidic, volcanic soil, sunny afternoon with clouds in the morning and more than 60 inches of rain during the summer months are ideal for growing coffee before.
There are many traditional Hawaiian coffee grown in Hawaii, but for this trip, I decided to visit the Big Island of Hawaii to visit the agricultural region that has grown Kona Coffee.
For more experience the true “aloha” of Hawaii’s husband Shaun and I decided to sleep two very special B & B located in the Kona coffee belt instead of the typical holiday hotel where tourists are most affected palm.
Roger Diltz, owner of Aloha Farm Bed and Breakfast in the past a place of refuge B & B gave us instructions to find your house key (elevation 800 feet) from Kealakekua Bay and Puuhonua O Honaunau National Park (City of Refuge) . Trying to find anywhere in this region, it is prudent to drive during the day, as the roads are not well marked and signs that not easily detectable during the day are almost invisible at night.
Before our arrival in this B & B eco-tourism, Roger, deep sea fishing for the catch of the day, left his dog Koa and a note on the door to greet us. Disarming at first, Rottweiler mix of laboratory became our companion for a walk of the grounds early, breakfast at 730 A. m
We believe that a warning was necessary. But as daylight broke, the sounds of the “jungle” Twitter was born as a person and 20 minutes the birds had orchestrated their calls in a growing tweets fledged, whistles and screams.
The aroma of Kona coffee spread throughout the house as Roger prepared a full breakfast costal jaboticaba stick with syrup over hot coconut bread. The view at breakfast from the lanai (covered terrace) was exactly as you might imagine, a tropical forest of exotic flora backdrop of an indigo ocean, as a person can see.
Aloha Nights companies were pretty funny. We have been invaded by hordes of nocturnal geckos, as they came in full force against the walls like a rubber shoe. These timid chartreuse lizards kept mosquitoes at bay, as well as potted plants citronella. In the distance, the echo noise of five pounds of avocado tree branches are usually overloaded Koa to investigate whether it could be a wild pig.
However, each morning we have the level of the diet of normal tourist diving, kayaking, swimming, hiking with on-the-dolphin. Instead, we try to outline the company secretly boringly in this region is only 2-3 km wide, twenty miles long and covers the south-west of the Big Island of Hawaii. We wanted to know how Kona coffee is grown, harvested, crushed, fermented, dried, milled (ground) and toast. (They did not realize that there were so many processes to make the Open Cup eyes each morning, now that you did?)
Our itinerary took us first to farms where managers Langenstein Darcee Lucas met for a cup of non-traditional.
Upon entering the room had roasted Darcee three porcelain cups starkly alone with a mug of coffee in a corner table, no cream or sugar in sight. Shaun, a coffee drinker, frowned, I had the ‘How I can drink coffee without milk “look?.
How Darcee paid, he said, “Now take your drink and watch the oil floats on top of coffee. Notice the colors. The smell of coffee. Now, drink the coffee.” We drank this classic soft, clean, fruity, floral Kona coffee. I could see a sigh of relief Shaun. “In fact, this can take black coffee, it tastes almost sweet, sugar free,” said Shaun.
My second order and said I wanted my baby Brit instant coffee along the path of a husband can do a good copper produced. Its delicate flavor seemed to have conquered.
Our journey took us to the plantations of Pele, overlooking Kealakekua Bay where Captain Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands. Owners Gus and Cynthia Brockson were busy packing orders roasting and ready to be sent online.
Their Kona coffee plantation is certified organic, which means that coffee is grown using methods and materials that have a low environmental impact. These organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, agriculture and biodiversity building.
According Brocksons is not enough to have a certified organic coffee farm “To call Kona coffee” organic must also be processed in a facility with equipment and procedures that are certified organic. We are proud to be one of the four processors in Kona have received this status. ”
Koa Road up, visited plantations KOA, located at an altitude of 2,500 meters on the slopes of the volcano of Hawaii, Mauna Loa. Located in the small town of Captain Cook, this is the only company in which we can see Kona as well as green and cherry red flowers all on the same floor. The sweet aroma of the flower – affectionately known as “Kona Snow” – reminded me of its sister plant, the Gardenia. During May, the flowers give way to green coffee beans, is a rare sight to see red cherry at lower elevations this time of year.
Plantations KOA has a wet milling system of the state of the art of Colombia, a dry mill in Brazil and throughout parchment / green bean is the temperature and humidity.
In the roasting room, we saw that the beans are roasted in a large commercial broiler. The temperature and time were monitored carefully to avoid burning the beans. “The most important thing is to listen to the first crack,” said John Langenstein guide. After about 15 minutes, the beans literally “pop” as they expand. This first crack, the roast first, a lightly roasted coffee commonly known as American Roast. The second “crack” is a much darker roasted coffee.
Tired and hungry, we headed down the road from Old Tobacco Road, which is an old farm road and rough as to suggest that a vehicle of transmission to all four wheels may be necessary. It is a mile long drive to our next dig through the coffee and macadamia orchards. We refined the clients Aloha House owned and operated by Johann Garriss Greg Timmerman and resident artist Lino Laure.
The reasons for Aloha Guest House has been lovingly cared for a tropical estate where the vines and leaves that grow at a rapid pace! exotic fruits and flowers thrive in the volcanic rock.
We are greeted by Lino dog and Mango, which, as it turned out, liked to scratch my back – every morning – in a chair just outside our entrance hall creating a nice buzz. (She became our alarm site.)
Aloha Guest House – situated 1500 meters above the Kona coast, where the climate is tempered by cool ocean breeze – offers various services such as a seven-person hot tub, HDTV, Wi-Fi, a kitchen and common 24-hour coffee and tea bar serving freshly brewed 100% Kona Peaberry Coffee – their private label by Kena grown and roasted coffee farms.
Breakfast, prepared by Johann used to be a simplistic version of haute cuisine and poured a large dining table with elegant table settings, including exotic flowers.
Throughout the B & B Lino Laure paintings are on display. Lino natural talent is evident, showing the wonders of the Hawaiian Islands, taking into account the smallest details that only an artist statement.
However, during the day beckoned us to leave behind all this luxury in order to complete our eco-tour.
A trip to Greenwell Farms in Kealakekua, Hawaii, took us on a journey of family history that dates back to 1850 when Henry Nicholas Greenwell left England and set for the first time in the fertile soil of rural Kona foot.
With his wife, Elizabeth Caroline, Henry spent the next forty years farming, breeding and refinement of its Kona coffee, before exporting to Europe and the Americas.
Today, the company is managed by the descendants of Henry and Elizabeth, and grows its own coffee on 150 acres of land more productive in the district of Kona. Greenwell Farms offers tours and camps coffee processing plants that run continuously from 8 a. m to 4 p. m Monday to Friday, Saturday, August 3 p. m Other m
A stone’s throw away is experiencing the Kona Historical Society History of visits to farms. This seven-hectare farm was homesteaded in 1900 by Japanese immigrants. The tour is an interpretation of the daily lives of coffee producers in the 20th century brought to life through the use of historic buildings, artifacts, authentic landscapes, live animals, machinery and production of vegetable gardens, orchards and fields.
David Bateman, owner of Heavenly Farms Hawaii pointed out that the process is much the same today: “Why do not all ripe cherry at the same time, there are usually 4-6 off during the harvest season. Pickers pick fruit manually red cherry that contains the grain. A good picker can pick 400 pounds of cherries in one day. Some collectors have gathered up to £ 1,200 per day, all by hand, of beans. “The standard cherry to produce a pound coffee Toasting is seven to one.
Near the farm owner Bob Nelson Lehuula prepares his team for the firing shattered cherry and dried. In addition to a pulper, Bob – a transplant from Alaska – is one of only two units on the islands that dry coffee beans through a drying process, which he uses to speed the drying process. Most companies – including Lehuula – still sun dry their grains on large bridges to a humidity level between 10 and 13 percent.
This coffee farm acres – located at 1400 meters on the western slope of Hualalai Mountain – currently supports more than 4,000 coffee plants, many of whom are 90 years or more and is said to provide a coffee tasting exceptionally can be found in young trees. “Cherry is as good as ever,” said Bob for cherry harvest reminds us that there is always a road to ruin through many steps to prepare the coffee.
Dr. Joe Alban explained that in his coffee farm that produces 35 percent more than in other coffee companies cherry coffee groves single vineyard. It sells for $ 65 per pound, the coffee plantation for the first time in the world owned and operated by Dr. Alban Joe and his wife Deepa.
Kona Joe Coffee ® slows U.S. Patent 6,449,898 B1 for “Method and apparatus for improving the production of coffee beans,” and has been increasingly recognized for adapting the techniques of wine production of coffee . “The inspiration for the adaptation of the traditional practices of growing wine coffee wine from the vineyards of the family, Alban Vineyards, an award-winning vineyard and winery is located in the central coast of California,” said Joe.
Kona Joe Coffee will sponsor the first barista competition to be held in this year’s Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, a 10-day festival held in early November, when the Kona coffee crop is underway.
I came to Kona to see how coffee was grown and education I received. Anyone can go on this trip to see the operation of a coffee plantation, without a passport and without regard for a trip to a foreign country.
Every morning I took my freshly brewed cup of java, I have a deep respect for the intensive process of labor needed to produce the coffee farmers who work tirelessly to bring this good can not do without.